“The perfect person for the job.”
Ruben Dias, Manchester City’s new captain, was talking about Enzo Maresca. The results, one month in, agree with him.
Since replacing Pep Guardiola in the summer, Maresca has taken four wins from four. Sunday brought the most-watched of them: a 1-0 win at Manchester United with ten men from the 23rd minute, when Phil Foden was sent off for a two-footed kick on Bruno Fernandes. Erling Haaland’s winner was itself awarded only after a lengthy VAR review.
The Italian, a former Guardiola assistant at the Etihad who later ran his own dressing rooms at Leicester and Chelsea, has walked into a job BBC Sport called football’s impossible one. City spent a Premier League record £458m rebuilding the squad this summer, replacing Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones with Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi. Dias inherited the armband.
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Dias: “The perfect person for the job”
The new captain has fronted the transition as much as any player at the club.
“He knew the house so well,” Dias told BBC Sport.
Dias, whose contract now runs to 2029, described what has changed and what has not.
“In terms of the role I have, it goes down to trying to be the best version of yourself, and in terms of that, nothing has changed.”
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“There’s obviously many things from training session to some details about the way we press, details about the way we defend and that make all of these Enzo’s idea,” Dias said.
The three-match ban and a VAR reprieve
Foden’s straight red in the 23rd minute arrived after he retaliated to a light kick from Bruno Fernandes with a studs-up strike to the midfielder’s stomach. Referee Michael Oliver’s decision was checked and confirmed by VAR. The Football Association has since ratified a three-match domestic ban: Foden misses the Norwich League Cup tie on 17 September, Sunderland on 20 September and the trip to Liverpool on 11 October.
Haaland’s goal was checked at length for possible offside interference by new signing Enzo Fernández before the ball reached the striker. The goal stood.
Maresca praised Haaland after the match.
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“How do you say in English? Happy wife, happy life. For us, happy Erling, happy life,” he said.
“I like house music. Boom, boom, boom.”
The most audible change at the training ground has been the actual sound of it. Loud house music, which Maresca brought from Leicester and Chelsea, now plays through sessions.
“I think the players with music are more happy and can work better, it’s just for that,” Maresca explained before the club’s 2-0 Champions League win over Porto.
Asked who picks the tracks, he pointed away from himself.
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“Ah, no! The players decide.”
He added, on his own taste: “I like house music! Boom, boom, boom!”
Guardiola comparisons, he says, do not weigh on him.
“It doesn’t put pressure on me,” Maresca told BBC Sport.
