Report Italian Maresca top pick to replace Guardiola at Manchester City

According to The Athletic, Italian coach Enzo Maresca is one of the candidates for Manchester City to replace Pep Guardiola next season after his success at Chelsea.

It would be a fitting next career step, considering Maresca worked under Guardiola as an assistant manager at Manchester City, and before that had been the coach of the Manchester City Under-21 team.

His contract at Chelsea runs to June 2030, but recent comments in the wake of the Champions League defeat to Atalanta raised doubts as to his future at Stamford Bridge.

He said following the next game against Everton that these had been the “worst 48 hours” of his time at the club, because “many people didn’t support us.”

The 45-year-old Italian won the Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup trophies last season.

Maresca could follow in the footsteps of Italian Roberto Mancini, who won the Premier League title as manager of Manchester City in 2012.

He had one very brief stint coaching in Italy with Parma, for 14 games in 2021.

Guardiola’s contract runs to June 2027, but there are growing reports this will be his final campaign with the Premier League club.