Chelsea did not wait long to say what it really thinks about Enzo Maresca. Minutes after Manchester City announced him as Pep Guardiola’s replacement, the club dropped a statement that read less like a farewell and more like an indictment.
The Blues called their season “hugely disappointing” and made it clear they believe Maresca checked out long before he actually left. According to Chelsea, the former manager told the club last fall he might have a shot at the City job. From there, things went south fast.
“It became clear to us that it was his strong desire to succeed Guardiola and that he was fully committed to pursuing the opportunity, despite the fact he was under a long-term contract which he had no right to terminate,” Chelsea wrote.
Maresca resigned in December 2025. Chelsea accepted it, but they didn’t exactly thank him for his time. They said they “felt let down” and believed his head and heart were elsewhere before he even packed his office.
The aftermath was brutal
What happened after Maresca left made everything worse. Chelsea rushed to hire Liam Rosenior, who lost five straight games without scoring for the first time since 1912. The team finished 10th and missed out on European competition entirely. That’s the level of collapse that gets a manager fired and leaves a front office pointing fingers backward.
Now Chelsea has Xabi Alonso in charge, and they’re already framing him as the anti-Maresca. In the same statement that roasted their former coach, the club praised Alonso as “a professional of the highest integrity” with “all the attributes to deliver the success the club’s supporters deserve.”
That’s not subtle. But Chelsea isn’t trying to be subtle.
Money talks, and City paid up
Man City and Chelsea reached what the club called a “confidential settlement” over compensation for Maresca. Reports put that number at around £17 million. Maresca will also have to pay something for breaking his contract, though neither side is saying how much.
Maresca, for his part, came out swinging in his own way. He called City “an incredibly well-run football club” where “everything they do is innovative, planned and purposeful.” For a manager, he said, that’s a “dream situation.”
Read that next to Chelsea’s statement and the contrast is pretty obvious. Maresca essentially said the opposite about his old employer, and he didn’t need a press release to do it. He’d been vocal about his frustrations with Chelsea’s hierarchy before walking out the door.
So now it’s done. Maresca is back at City where he served as Guardiola’s assistant from 2022 to 2023. Chelsea is moving forward with Alonso and a whole lot of bitterness. And the Premier League gets another chapter in what’s becoming one of its messier coaching rivalries.
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