Enzo Maresca is City's new manager — and the succession was years in the making

Manchester City have appointed Enzo Maresca as Pep Guardiola's successor, the club confirming a three-year contract for the 46-year-old Italian. Chelsea, whom Maresca left mid-season, said the two clubs had agreed a compensation package — reported in Britain at around £17 million.

He is not a stranger. Maresca coached in City's youth setup and served as Guardiola's assistant during the treble-winning 2018-19 campaign, which is the single biggest reason the hierarchy were comfortable handing him the most scrutinised job in English football.

“Manchester City is a club I know very well and to have the chance to manage this team is a brilliant opportunity for me,” he said. “I want us to win, play good football and enjoy the pressure of representing Manchester City.”

The route here was not linear. His management career began at Parma in 2021 and lasted 14 games with four wins. He then took Leicester City into the 2023-24 Championship season and won the title, which earned him Chelsea and the job of dragging a young, expensively assembled squad back into the Champions League.

He did more than that — fourth place, the Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup — but his relationship with Chelsea's ownership broke down and he walked out midway through his second season. Chelsea's statement was pointed: “It became clear to us that it was his strong desire to succeed Guardiola… despite the fact he was under a long-term contract which he had no right to terminate.” They said they felt let down by a resignation they described as unexpected and abrupt.

City, for their part, confirmed they had held confidential talks with Maresca last year while he remained a Chelsea employee. Chelsea's season unravelled afterwards: Liam Rosenior came and went, caretaker Calum McFarlane finished the job, and the club came ninth.

Maresca has not tried to relitigate it. “I recognise that my departure from Chelsea in the middle of the season caused disruption for the club and I apologise for that,” he said. It is an unusual note to begin an era on — and a reminder that he arrives having already made the hardest decision of his career in public.