Maresca faces City press conference amid Fernandez pursuit and transfer window frenzy

Enzo Maresca faced the media on Thursday ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League visit to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Friday night, with the club navigating one of the busiest final weeks of a transfer window in recent memory.

City arrive in the capital on the back of a dramatic 2-1 home win over Bournemouth that opened their top-flight campaign, while Palace head into the fixture having lost 2-0 to Everton on the opening weekend. A win for City would take them to the top of the table.

The backdrop to the press conference is a flurry of transfer business. Savinho and Nico Gonzalez have both departed, Omar Marmoush is set to join Tottenham, new arrival Ayyoubb Bouaddi has been confirmed, and a deal for winger Allan is reported to be agreed. With Tuesday’s deadline approaching, Maresca was also expected to provide the latest injury news ahead of the trip south.

The most significant outstanding piece of business, according to the Manchester Evening News’s chief City writer Simon Bajkowski, is the pursuit of Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez. Maresca has publicly expressed his desire to bring the Argentina international to the Etihad this summer.

“I think City owe it to Maresca to sign Enzo Fernandez,” Bajkowski said. “Maresca has lost Rodri, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Ake and on top of that a load of players that weren’t playing have all been sold and all need to be replaced. City did say earlier in the window that they are going to replace at least everyone who goes out to give Maresca the best chance.”

The scale of the squad overhaul has placed considerable pressure on Sporting Director Hugo Viana and the recruitment team. While several of the departed players were not expected to feature heavily in Maresca’s plans, the loss of Rodri — who remains irreplaceable by any conventional measure — means the squad still carries a significant gap at its core.

On a lighter note, City also unveiled their third kit for the 2026/27 season this week — a strip designed by a supporter using an AI tool developed with kit manufacturer Puma. Fans from over 200 countries submitted 180,000 unique designs, generating 1.7 million ratings before City and Puma shortlisted ten options and selected a winner.