Inside Man City as key official’s future clarified, Maresca hiring and Hugo Viana’s long-term plans explained | OneFootball

A new report has gone into detail on the inner workings of Manchester City including the future of one key official sitting within the club’s hierarchy.

City are expected to confirm the appointment of Enzo Maresca as first-team head coach as Pep Guardiola looks to bring the curtain down on an illustrious spell at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola is under contract at Manchester City till 2027 but has decided to walk at the end of a decade in Manchester, winning six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League and a historic treble among a plethora of silverware in north-west England.

Maresca is set to sign an initial three year deal at City, with reports stating that the 46-year-old has begun working on pre-season and recruitment plans ahead of the summer transfer window.

Maresca appointment, Soriano and Viana

Now, according to The i Paper, Maresca’s appointment as the successor to Guardiola is explained by his ‘understanding of the journey’ that the club is on and that the Italian will ‘ensure continuity in all departments’.

It is further stated that the club’s chief executive officer Ferran Soriano plans to stay at the club, despite the expected exit of Guardiola, ensuring that the transition process into a new head coach will be ‘as smooth as possible’.

Elsewhere within the existing structure, sporting director Hugo Viana – who succeeded Txiki Begiristain last summer – has ‘impressed several sources’ with his start to life in England and is ‘well-liked in the game’.

Remarkably, sources are also claiming that Viana and other senior figures within the club have even identified the next manager after Maresca, with it assumed that Vincent Kompany will manage Manchester City one day.

When are Man City expected to announce Maresca?

The million dollar question. If you heard Guardiola’s press conferences in recent months – right up to after his side succumbed to a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday night that confirmed Arsenal as Premier League champions – you’d believe the Catalan hasn’t been told he is leaving this summer.

However, a flurry of reliable reports outside the club have cited that Guardiola has decided to step down as Manchester City manager after Sunday’s Premier League finale against Aston Villa.

City will be bidding farewell to departing stars John Stones and Bernardo Silva against Unai Emery and co – and that goodbye could well extend to the club’s greatest-ever manager.

When an official announcement comes is a fool’s guess, though City can be commended to keep a resolution on Guardiola’s future under wraps till the final week of their title run-in.