Enzo Maresca is 46, on a three-year contract, and already telling reporters he knows what is coming.
“After 10 games, if we have got 10 points, 20 points, 30 points, people will be comparing it to Pep after 10 games. It doesn’t put pressure on me,” the Italian told BBC Sport during Manchester City’s pre-season tour of South Korea.
In the same round of pre-season interviews, Maresca described Pep Guardiola as “the best manager in the world over the last 15 or 20 years.” Guardiola left in May after a decade that produced six Premier League titles and a Champions League.
The squad Maresca inherits is not Guardiola’s
City have spent the summer stripping out familiar faces. Bernardo Silva and John Stones have both departed, along with Nathan Aké and Manuel Akanji, while goalkeeper James Trafford has been sold to Leeds.
In their place, City broke their own transfer record to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116m. Jeremy Monga has arrived from Leicester, and Mathys Detourbet from Troyes.
Guardiola’s assistant now sits in Guardiola’s chair
Maresca is not a stranger at the Etihad. He was Guardiola’s assistant during the 2018-19 treble-winning season and later coached the club’s youth teams, before winning promotion with Leicester and lifting the Conference League and Club World Cup with Chelsea. City paid Chelsea approximately £17m in compensation to release him.
On the day the appointment was confirmed, Maresca called City “a club I know very well” and the job “a brilliant opportunity.” He met Guardiola in Barcelona the day before signing.
He insists the reading of the squad will be his own.
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“I like to go in empty sometimes to see things for myself. He was here so long and has his opinions, but you have to arrive and see things for yourself,” Maresca said.
Season opens against Bournemouth on 23 August
City’s Premier League season opens at home to Bournemouth on Sunday 23 August, with a 2pm local time kick-off. Crystal Palace away follows on 29 August, then Coventry City at home before Maresca’s first Manchester derby, at Old Trafford on 12 September.
His return to Stamford Bridge, where he was Chelsea manager last season, is booked for 24 April.
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