Enzo Maresca Takes Charge at Manchester City
Enzo Maresca did not tiptoe into Manchester City. He walked straight through the front door of the Etihad, called it “home,” and accepted the job nobody sane would label easy: succeeding Pep Guardiola after a decade of trophies and transformation.
Guardiola’s 10-year reign has closed, the medals boxed, the era complete. Now comes the Italian, back in Manchester after his spell as an assistant, this time as the man in the technical area with his name on the door and the pressure squarely on his shoulders.
He is not pretending the task is small.
"I'm completely excited, I know the expectation when you join a club like City," Maresca told the club’s media as pre-season wound down. "The expectation is to win games, to win titles and to compete for titles. And we are going to try that. I'm very happy [to be back]."
That word – expectation – hangs over everything. City have not hired a builder; they have hired a maintainer of standards. The first examination arrives immediately: Arsenal, the reigning Premier League champions, in Sunday’s Community Shield to launch the 2026-27 campaign.
For Maresca, it is familiar ground with unfamiliar faces. The corridors, the staff, the daily rhythm of the training complex – all of it stirred a sense of déjà vu.
"It's a special moment; the feeling is like being back at home so it's a very nice feeling," he said. "The people inside the building, they are almost the same. The squad is maybe 80% changed but overall, I had exactly the same feeling. Good people, it's nice to be here."
The comfort of the surroundings contrasts sharply with the upheaval on the pitch. City have torn into their squad this summer, reshaping a dressing room that had grown used to Guardiola’s voice.
Four new signings have arrived, headlined by the eye-catching £116 million move for Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest – a marquee fee that underlines both City’s financial power and Maresca’s backing from the hierarchy. Anderson becomes the symbol of a refreshed cycle, a big-money piece in a team being subtly retooled rather than rebuilt from scratch.
At the same time, the exits have been significant. James Trafford, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake have all been sold. John Stones and Bernardo Silva, two pillars of the Guardiola era, have walked away on free transfers, taking with them years of experience, dressing-room weight and memories of title runs and European nights.
The spine that once felt immovable is now being tested.
And the uncertainty does not stop there. Interest from Real Madrid and Barcelona in Rodri refuses to fade, the European giants circling one of City’s most important players. While that saga simmers, the club are pushing in other directions: in talks for Lille’s 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi and keeping a close eye on Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez.
It is a live, moving puzzle. Maresca must find balance while the pieces are still being swapped.
Yet he has been clear about what the job demands, even in a period of transition. There is no soft landing, no grace period written into his contract.
"Try to win some titles," he said when asked about his ambitions. "But as I said before, it's what the club has to fight for, so hopefully we can be at the end of the season and enjoy that moment."
No caveats. No talk of rebuilding years. The bar remains where Guardiola left it.
So the new era begins with a familiar objective: win, and keep winning. Arsenal stand in the way first, a Community Shield that suddenly feels like more than a curtain-raiser. It is Maresca’s first real statement, his first chance to show that City under new management still look like City.
The question now is not whether he understands the scale of the task. He clearly does.
It’s whether, under the weight of Guardiola’s shadow and amid a squad in flux, he can turn that “home” feeling into another decade of dominance.
