Maresca rests five City starters to hand academy players Carabao Cup audition against Brighton

Enzo Maresca has handed Manchester City’s academy players a significant opportunity by resting five first-team regulars — Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Elliot Anderson — for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Brighton.

The quintet have been given three full days off rather than simply being named on the bench, a deliberate decision by Maresca to allow them proper physical and mental recovery. It is a notable call given Brighton’s strong start to the season under Fabian Hurzeler, and it leaves City’s manager open to criticism should things go wrong in a competition the club has won regularly in recent years.

The absences are not entirely without precedent. Anderson and Gvardiol were on the bench in last week’s Premier League fixture against Ipswich, Haaland sat out the Champions League game against AEK Athens, and Dias was substituted at half-time against PSG. Maresca had signalled publicly that certain players needed genuine rest, and he is following through on that commitment.

In their place, the door is open for fringe and youth players to feature. Ryan McAidoo came off the bench at Villa Park on Saturday, while Floyd Samba started the previous Carabao Cup round against Norwich and also led the line against AEK Athens — a match in which McAidoo and defender Kaden Braithwaite also appeared. Marcus Bettinelli, Matheus Nunes and Allan are among those who could come into the squad.

Maresca has been consistent on his approach to young players since arriving at the club. Speaking during City’s pre-season in Hong Kong, he said: “I am always very open with young players. At Leicester, it was a record number of debuts from the academy. And at Chelsea it was also a record number of debuts from the academy.”

So far at City, he has kept faith with the youngsters who impressed him during the summer, giving them minutes across all competitions. Wednesday’s game against Brighton looks set to continue that pattern, even if the stakes of rotating so heavily against a well-organised Premier League side are real.