Enzo Maresca ‘already working’ as new footage reveals first match watched by Man City manager | OneFootball

Newly-appointed Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has wasted no time in “already working” in his new role at the Etihad Stadium.

Maresca was officially confirmed as Manchester City‘s new manager on Monday, bringing to an end a protracted saga that had been complicated by a compensation dispute with the Italian’s former employers Chelsea over the terms of his departure from Stamford Bridge earlier in the year.

The 46-year-old returns to a club where he previously worked as manager of the Elite Development Squad – and his appointment as Pep Guardiola‘s successor has been widely framed as a natural continuation of the footballing principles established during the Catalan’s decade in charge at the Etihad Stadium.

City have offered supporters an early glimpse of their new manager settling into his new surroundings, releasing behind-the-scenes footage that captures his first day at the club and provides an insight into the meticulous, detail-oriented approach that has defined his rise through the coaching ranks.

The footage arrives at a moment of considerable anticipation around the club, with director of football Hugo Viana overseeing an active summer window that has already delivered a club record £116 million signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest as the centrepiece of Maresca’s incoming squad.

Report: Maresca studying World Cup footage on first day

In the new footage released by Manchester City, Maresca admitted that he was “already working” during his flight to the north-west from London, offering a candid window into the mindset he has brought to the role from the very first day of his tenure.

The Italian revealed to in-house media that he was spending his time studying match footage from the ongoing FIFA World Cup – and in this instance a contest involving Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders – two players already on City’s books whose Netherlands performances the new manager was keen to assess at close quarters.

That Maresca was already immersing himself in analysis of his own players before formally setting foot inside the club speaks to the thoroughness that has become a hallmark of his managerial style, with Guardiola’s former assistant evidently determined to build as complete a picture as possible of the squad he has inherited.

The detail is a small but telling one, offering supporters an early sense of the intensity and preparation Maresca intends to bring to his work at the Etihad Stadium as he begins the task of shaping the team in his own image ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

What does the footage tell us about Maresca’s Man City approach?

The image of a manager studying World Cup footage before his first day has even begun is one that will resonate with a fanbase accustomed to the obsessive attention to detail that characterised the Guardiola era – and it suggests continuity in the standards and habits that underpinned that period of sustained success.

Ake and Reijnders both represent important components of the squad Maresca has inherited, with the Dutch contingent at the Etihad Stadium likely to feature in the manager’s plans as he assesses which players fit the system he intends to implement across his first season in charge – though the pair have been linked with possible exits in recent months.

Maresca’s willingness to begin his analysis while several of his players remain engaged at the World Cup underlines the challenge he faces in integrating a squad whose members are returning from international duty at staggered intervals, with pre-season preparations complicated by the tournament’s summer scheduling.

Whether these early glimpses of the Italian’s working methods translate into the results Manchester City supporters expect will only become clear once competitive football returns, but the behind-the-scenes footage offers an encouraging first impression of a manager who appears intent on leaving nothing to chance at the Etihad Stadium.