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COBHAM, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 08: Enzo Maresca, manager of Chelsea FC looks on during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground on December 08, 2025 in Cobham, England. (Photo by Jasper Wax/Getty Images)
Reports from various outlets suggest that Italian tactician Enzo Maresca is in line to replace Pep Guardiola as head coach of Manchester City in the event that he decides to leave the Etihad at the end of the season.
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Could Maresca replace Guardiola at Man City?
Guardiola has another season remaining on his Manchester City deal, expiring in the summer of 2027, but there are growing reports that he could potentially leave the club at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
The Spaniard has won 19 titles during his time in Manchester, including six Premier League trophies and the 2022-23 Champions League. Reports in Italy claim that there is still hope he could potentially take over from Gennaro Gattuso as head coach of the national team.
Should Guardiola leave Manchester City this season, his former assistant Enzo Maresca, previously of Leicester City and Chelsea, is in line to replace him. This has been reported by The Guardian and various other outlets in the UK.
Maresca spent the treble-winning 2022-23 season as an assistant to Guardiola at the Etihad, but left in the summer to take on his first solo managerial role with Leicester in the EFL Championship. Despite guiding Leicester to promotion and the league title at his first attempt, he left the Foxes at the end of the campaign to take over at Chelsea.
Maresca left Chelsea in January and has been out of work since then.
According to TalkSport, Maresca remains under contract with Chelsea, and though the terms of his exit package have been described as ‘complicated’, it is understood that the club cannot stand in the coach’s way if he wishes to take up a new post elsewhere.
According to Friday’s report, Maresca still has contractual obligations with Chelsea, and therefore, the two parties will need to come to some form of agreement if the coach is to take over at Manchester City.
Chelsea reportedly feel that they will be entitled to compensation if Maresca goes on to take over from Guardiola in Manchester, but if compensation does change hands, it will be between Chelsea and Maresca rather than between Chelsea and Man City.
ByPeter Young
Peter Young is a Senior Reporter with Football Italia.
