Enzo Maresca edges closer to Manchester City job as compensation talks with Chelsea near conclusion

Manchester City are on the verge of appointing Enzo Maresca as their next manager, with lawyers from both clubs working through the final details of a compensation package owed to Chelsea. A deal is expected to be concluded this week.

The 46-year-old Italian is City’s preferred choice to succeed Pep Guardiola, and Maresca himself is understood to want the role. His path to the Etihad is complicated by his acrimonious departure from Stamford Bridge in January — a split that was partly triggered when Maresca informed Chelsea last autumn that City had already been in contact with him about eventually replacing Guardiola.

Maresca is far from a stranger to the club. He served as one of Guardiola’s assistants during City’s treble-winning 2022/23 season and had previously worked within the academy before stepping up to the first team. He left to take his first head-coaching role at Leicester in 2023, winning the Championship title in his debut campaign. That success led to the Chelsea appointment, where he delivered the Club World Cup, the Conference League, and a Champions League qualification with a young squad.

Guardiola, who departed City at the end of the season as the club’s most decorated manager, was effusive in his praise of Maresca’s work at Chelsea. “One of the best managers in the world,” Guardiola said. “The job he has done at Chelsea does not get enough credit. Winning the Club World Cup, Conference League, qualification for the Champions League in a league that is so tough with a young team. It is exceptional.”

Guardiola also left a public message for whoever inherits his squad. In his farewell speech he said: “When the club will tell me which one it is, of course I will call him. And I will tell him, ‘Be yourself, the club will support you unconditionally — and be free in your ideas, go there, work a lot, and everything will be fine.’”

The squad Maresca would inherit has been reshaped with the future in mind. City have added Rayan Cherki, Marc Guehi, and Antoine Semenyo over the past twelve months, giving the incoming manager a group Guardiola believes is capable of competing for major honours.