Man City chairman lists three traits that convinced him to hire Enzo Maresca | OneFootball

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has revealed the three traits that convinced him to make new boss Enzo Maresca the successor to Pep Guardiola.

Former Chelsea and Leicester boss Maresca faces the monumental task of taking over from City’s greatest-ever manager, who left at the end of the season after securing six Premier League titles and a Champions League across a trophy-laden decade in Manchester.

The 46-year-old is no stranger to the club, having spent a season as an assistant to Guardiola during the 2022/23 campaign, and having previously overseen Manchester City’s elite development squad.

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Enzo Maresca has been a proven winner at Man City (Getty)

From there, he went to Leicester – where he secured promotion from the Championship – and then Chelsea, where he won the Conference League and Club World Cup crowns before a complete breakdown in relations with the club board and an acrimonious departure.

That breakdown in relationship hasn’t deterred City though and Al Mubarak was delighted to bring in someone familiar with the set-up and who possesses a trio of qualities the chairman was after.

“Enzo is very known to us and we’ve always been, I would say, very, very attracted by his football, by his mind, by his humanity,” said Al Mubarak. “He is someone that has been part of this club, part of the success of the club, someone we all know very, very well. He knows us very, very well and he’s been part of this family.

“He was part of the academy, with the success of the academy, and then he was part of the treble-winning team – one of the most important teams in the history of this club.

“He’s another very, very special individual and we’ve seen him evolve as a manager. He doesn’t shy away from the challenge – from taking on Leicester to then taking an important club in Chelsea and winning some important trophies.

“I think Enzo is an excellent fit for the team. The players know him very well – many of them. Many of them he’s coached, even in the youth teams – Nico O’Reilly as an example. He knows every aspect of the club, so the transition will be smooth. And more importantly, his football – his brand of football is not too different from the football we play. And he has of course his own philosophy.”

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Khaldoon Al Mubarak is confident he has his man, in the form of Maresca (PA Archive)

While Maresca was influenced by working with Guardiola early in the decade, Al Mubarak is confident he can still put his own spin on proceedings.

“He’s one of Pep’s assistants at one point in his career so definitely – he will tell you – he’s going to have taken a lot of inspiration in the philosophy of Pep, and you see that in his football,” added the chairman.

“But he’s also evolved his own philosophy. I think Enzo brings a lot to this club. I’m very excited, honestly, about Enzo and I think the fans will appreciate him as a manager, his football philosophy, his football and how the team is going to perform and go from strength to strength with Maresca’s leadership.

“I think it will be a great addition to the team. This is a big challenge – this scares off many people. The beauty with Enzo is he actually wants that challenge; he loves that challenge.”