What could Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City look like? | OneFootball

After a decade of dominance from Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in English and European football, there is now a fresh face in the dugout at the Etihad Stadium.

Former Chelsea boss and former assistant to Guardiola Enzo Maresca takes charge as City boss on a three year contract.

Maresca’s background

After being promoted from Manchester City’s under 21 manager, the Italian was instrumental in the Cityzens’ success, helping to steer City to their treble winning campaign back in 2022/23.

A member of Pep’s famous ‘coaching academy’, Maresca sought a head coach role after time as Pep’s assistant. The Italian landed his first head coach job in England as manager of Leicester City back in 2023, as he guided his side to the Championship title.

Maresca revolutionised the level of second tier football, with his Foxes side netting the second highest amount of goals, along with conceding the least in the division.

The success proving more significant as Leciester lost key defensive and attacking members of their previous squad, such as club captain Kasper Schmeiciel, Wesley Fofana, Harvey Barnes, alongside midfield pair James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.

Despite Leicester’s promotion back to the top flight, Maresca departed the Foxes after one season to pursue the role as head coach at Chelsea, where he guided the Blues back to Champions League football.

Alongside domestic success, the Italian also brought back European glory for the Blues, as his Chelsea side claimed their first Europa Conference League title.

In the summer of 2025, Maresca continued to reinstate Chelsea’s dominance at the highest of stages, as Chelsea won the Club World Cup in America, blowing away Luis Enrique’s Champions League winning Paris Saint-Germain side.

With Maresca picking up his second title in just a year as Chelsea boss. Maresca’s second season as Chelsea boss was interrupted prematurely, as he personally resigned from his duties as Chelsea manager in January despite being under a long-term contract.

Chelsea confirmed Maresca’s resignation was purely down to the opportunity to become Pep Guardiola’s eventual successor after the end of the 2025/26 campaign. After the Italian’s resignation, Chelsea eventually finished tenth in the Premier League.

Maresca’s Manchester City

Maresca primarily sets his teams up in a 4-2-3-1 system, working on utilising fluid movement and rotations to create space further up the pitch to damage teams.

Like Guardiola, the Italian focuses on a possession based style, with the focus to play in central areas. With Manchester City’s abundance of midfield talent, it is no secret that Maresca’s system will be successful instantly.

The Goalkeeping conundrum.

With Maresca opting for a possession based side, the goalkeeper situation becomes a difficult conundrum for the Italian.

Gianluigi Donnarumma was the clear number one shot stopper for Guardiola in his concluding season as Manchester City boss, with the Italian keeping 15 clean sheets over the course of his debut Premier League campaign. The 27-year-old’s shot stopping ability is undoubtedly one of the best in world football. However, the Italian isn’t the most comfortable on the ball.

On the contrary, City academy graduate James Trafford was the designated cup goalkeeper for the Cityzens last campaign, helping his side reach continental glory in the FA and Carabao cup. Trafford was brought back to Manchester last summer with the hopes of fulfilling the role of first choice goalkeeper, but his role was shortly halted with the arrival of Donnarumma.

The 23-year-old is much more comfortable on the ball compared to his competitor, making him well suited to Maresca’s City side. To add, Trafford was Maresca’s primary shot stopper during his tenure as Under 21’s manager, which puts the Englishman in good stead for more minutes in the upcoming campaign.

Maresca opted for a ball playing goalkeeper in Mads Hermansen for Leicester City, with the Dane supporting build up from deeper areas.

Conversely, the Italian utilised Robert Sanchez as his first choice during his time at Chelsea. Despite issues on the ball, the Italian altered his system to support Sanchez, which he could implement to instate the quality of his Italian compatriot into his City side.

Defensive Areas

During his time at Leicester and partially at Chelsea, Maresca utilised a full-back drifting in-field to help create overloads within build-up to ensure that build up can occur more frequently in central areas.

This role was tasked primarily for right-sided defenders like Ricardo Pereira and Hamza Choudhury at Leicester, alongside Reece James and also Malo Gusto in Maresca’s time at Chelsea. The role of the ‘inverted full-back’ is well suited for Nico O’Reilly, who was also coached by Maresca during his time in the academy.

Since adapting to the left side of defence, the Englishman has been a hybrid defender, contributing plenty in attacking areas, such as a brace in the Carabao Cup Final against Arsenal. This role looks tailor-made for O’Reilly, and with some tactical tweaks from Maresca, he could become one of City’s key men.

As for the right side of defence, the full-back will likely tuck inside to form a three man defensive system, which will likely consist of Nunes, Guehi and Gvardiol.

Mattheus Nunes was often tasked with this role over the course of the 2025/26 campaign, when the likes of O’Reilly or Rayan Ait-Nouri were present on the other flank, with Nunes acting as the more conservative full-back.

Due to the defensive demands of this role, Maresca could also aim to use a central defender in this area, such as Khusanov, to ensure there is capable central defensive cover once O’Reilly progresses up the pitch. Similar to his predecessor utilising the likes of Gvardiol or Nathan Ake on the opposite flank.

The Midfield

With the record breaking transfer of Elliot Anderson, alongside the departure of club captain Bernardo Silva, City’s midfield is changing. During Maresca’s time at Chelsea, he utilised a classic number six in Moises Caicedo, alongside a more progressive midfielder in Enzo Fernandez.

Anderson is clearly capable of performing either roles, with the 23-year-old performing the former for England during the World Cup period, and the latter for Nottingham Forest in the previous Premier League campaign.

Ballon D’or winner Rodri is likely to partner Anderson in the deeper midfield areas amid transfer speculation. With the quality of the Spaniard, it looks like a fluid midfield, capable of controlling and coinciding with Maresca’s mission.

Maresca’s fluid system was clear at Chelsea, where he utilised City academy graduate Cole Palmer as his number ten, with Palmer connecting play between defence and attack. This made Palmer essential for Maresca’s Chelsea, helping to create space for Jackson and his other forward compatriots.

This role would be extremely well suited to Rayan Cherki. The Frenchman would have the ability to drift into wide spaces, but also occupy a central position to create overloads and impact games consistently, helping to create chances for the likes of Haaland and Semenyo.

Attacking Excitement

Manchester City netted the most goals in the division last campaign (77), averaging over 2 goals per match, primarily down to Erling Haaland who scored 27 (35%) for the Cityzens in the top flight.

Maresca demands hard work from his front man, with the centre-forward tasked to combine closely with the number ten and be continuously present within build up. This was clear with the close combination that Palmer and Jackson had in Maresca’s early days as Chelsea boss.

Despite the difference in Haaland and Jackson’s profiles, the Norwegian will still be tasked with supporting build up, and stretching the pitch alongside the likes of Doku, Semenyo, Savinho and Marmoush.

In wide areas, Maresca favours direct, fast wingers who can beat their defenders one versus one. During his tenure at Leicester, the Italian utilised Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi, with the pair contributing to 37 goals and assists between them from wide areas.

Semenyo and Doku will likely be Maresca’s preferred options in these areas. With the duo coming fresh off their best seasons in club football, the Cityzens look to have plenty of attacking excitement for the upcoming season and for the future.