Maresca Is Guardiola’s Chosen Successor at City. That Might Actually Be the Safe Play.

Manchester City finally has its guy. Enzo Maresca is coming back to the Etihad to replace Pep Guardiola, and it is not just because he used to run City’s Elite Development Squad or sat next to Pep on the bench for a treble season. There is a longer thread here, one that reaches back before Guardiola even arrived in Manchester.

Maresca played for Manuel Pellegrini at Malaga. He coached under him at West Ham. Pellegrini was the guy City shoved aside to make room for Guardiola, the forgotten Premier League winner whose title in 2014 now feels like a placeholder trophy. City might be fine with that kind of placeholder again. If Maresca can win one league title in three years and prove the club can breathe after Pep leaves, that counts as a win. The job here is basically to be Arne Slot, not David Moyes at United or Unai Emery at Arsenal. Just don’t be the guy who makes everyone miss the legend.

This move had been telegraphed for months. Maresca’s relationship with Chelsea fractured partly because he told the London club he had been talking to City, even before it was clear Guardiola was actually leaving this summer. That willingness to prioritize City might have annoyed Chelsea enough to fire off that explosive statement blaming him for everything. But it also gave City a smooth succession plan while three other Guardiola disciples appear to have better resumes elsewhere.

Mikel Arteta built his own empire at Arsenal. Vincent Kompany is beloved at Bayern Munich. Xabi Alonso, who reportedly would have listened to City last fall, instead is now part of Chelsea’s coaching succession after Maresca left. Alonso’s record at Bayer Leverkusen is objectively stronger than Maresca’s. Which is a polite way of saying Maresca might be a little fortunate to get this job. Or maybe the 115 Premier League charges hanging over City make it a poisoned chalice that nobody else wanted to grab.

His resume is mixed. So is the squad he inherits.

Maresca’s managerial career started with 14 games at Parma, sandwiched between two City stints. He won the Championship with Leicester, which looks better now given how badly that club fell apart afterward. That was Leicester’s only good season in four years. But fans never really loved him there. Chelsea fans did not love his football either, even if the results were basically par. Fourth place last season. Fifth place this season. A Conference League title that felt mandatory given their spending. The real highlight was winning the Club World Cup, outcoaching Luis Enrique in the final and demolishing a dominant Paris Saint-Germain side.

Maybe that is a preview of what comes next. Maresca was on Guardiola’s staff during the 2022-23 treble season, when City dismantled Bayern and Real Madrid in the Champions League. But that was a different team. Bernardo Silva and John Stones are reportedly leaving. The core he inherits is basically Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Rodri, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake. The sporting director is now Hugo Viana, not Txiki Begiristain who was there during Maresca’s first run. That matters because Maresca fell out hard with Chelsea’s ownership structure. He might argue that job was impossible, not the one replacing Guardiola.

In his defense, he has done better than the other Todd Boehly hires. Mauricio Pochettino was fine. Graham Potter and Liam Rosenior were outright disasters. Maresca kept credibility in the Chelsea dressing room, especially among the Spanish-speaking players. Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella openly preferred him to Rosenior. Results got worse after he left, at least initially.

Barcelona promoted Guardiola’s assistant Tito Vilanova after he left. That worked for one league title. Bayern hired Carlo Ancelotti, a triple Champions League winner. That worked too. Each won the domestic league in their first season after Pep. Neither league was the Premier League though. Maresca walks into a division with Arteta, Alonso, and Roberto De Zerbi, a manager Guardiola openly admires. City picked the guy once nicknamed ‘Diet Pep.’ But they are losing the real thing now.