Maresca inherits City's stable foundations as rivals Iraola and Alonso walk into chaos

Enzo Maresca will not officially begin work with his Manchester City squad until next week, but the argument is already forming that he is starting his tenure in a far stronger position than the new managers arriving at Anfield and Stamford Bridge.

With so many City first-team players still involved at the World Cup, there was little logic in rushing anyone back early. The delayed start is a product of success, not dysfunction — and that distinction matters when you look at what Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso have walked into at Liverpool and Chelsea respectively.

Iraola takes charge of a Liverpool side that has unravelled at speed. Less than a year ago the club was widely credited with one of the best transfer windows in recent memory, yet those big-money signings failed to deliver. The fallout has cost not only outgoing manager Arne Slot his job but also chief executive of football Michael Edwards, with sporting director Richard Hughes also expected to depart within the year.

Chelsea’s situation carries its own turbulence. The club fell out spectacularly with Maresca during his time there, then made a poor fist of appointing his replacement in Liam Rosenior, who was sacked after only a few months. Alonso, for all his reputation as one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe, inherits an institution still finding its footing.

Neither man is an unknown quantity to City. Both Iraola and Alonso managed against Guardiola’s side last season and have built genuine reputations in the game. But as City and Arsenal have demonstrated over the past 15 years, quality coaching alone is rarely enough to build sustained success — the infrastructure around a manager counts for just as much.

That is the quiet advantage Maresca carries into his first season. He is not being asked to rebuild or stabilise; he is stepping into a club that has handled its managerial transition with care and continuity. Nobody is expecting him to replicate what Guardiola achieved, but with expectations recalibrated and rival clubs in varying degrees of flux, the conditions are more favourable than they might first appear.

Michael Carrick at Manchester United and Roberto De Zerbi at Tottenham add further uncertainty to the top-flight landscape, with both beginning their first full seasons in charge. Monday’s press conferences from Iraola and Alonso will produce the right words about vision and ambition. Translating those words into results, at clubs still sorting out their structures, is the harder task — and one Maresca, for now, does not share.