Man City hires Maresca to replace Guardiola as manager after paying compensation to Chelsea

Manchester City hired Enzo Maresca as the successor to Pep Guardiola on Monday after reaching a settlement with Chelsea over compensation for the Italian coach following his messy departure from the London club in January.

Maresca signed a three-year deal at City and will take on the daunting task of replacing one of soccer’s greatest ever coaches, with Guardiola having led City to 17 major trophies in his decade in charge before leaving in May.

The 46-year-old Maresca returns for a third stint at City, where he was academy coach in the 2020-21 season and then Guardiola’s assistant in 2022-23 — the year the team won the Premier League-Champions League-FA Cup treble.

After that, Maresca joined Leicester, which he led to the title in the second-tier Championship in England, before immediately taking over at Chelsea for what has so far been his only top-flight coaching job.

He was at Chelsea from June 2024 to January 2026, winning the Club World Cup and Conference League titles and also qualifying for the Champions League.

Maresca left at the start of January following a deterioration in his relationship with Chelsea’s hierarchy, with the club saying in a statement — released at the same time as City announced Maresca’s arrival — that the Italian felt at the time “there might be an opportunity for him to succeed Pep Guardiola at the end of the season.”

Maresca had a contract with Chelsea until 2029 and previously played down in public any links with City.

“It became clear to us that it was his strong desire to succeed Guardiola and that he was fully committed to pursuing the opportunity, despite the fact he was under a long-term contract which he had no right to terminate,” read Chelsea’s statement on Monday.

Chelsea said it “felt let down” when he resigned “as we believed that his head and heart were focused on another club and another opportunity.”

As well as saying it had reached a “confidential settlement” with City that included the payment of compensation, Chelsea said the club would be receiving compensation from Maresca himself.

Maresca accepted that his departure from Chelsea “caused disruption for the club and I apologize for that.”

“It was neither my intention nor my wish,” he added, while saying he was “ecstatic” to be joining City.

Tough act to follow Guardiola

Maresca has the near-impossible task of following Guardiola, whose record-breaking spell at Etihad Stadium contained six Premier League titles — including an unprecedented four in a row — and a first Champions League title.

“Manchester City is a club I know very well and to have the chance to manage this team is a brilliant opportunity for me,” Maresca said in a City statement.

“City is an incredibly well-run football club. Everything they do is innovative, planned and purposeful. For a manager, that is a dream situation. It provides the consistency I need to do my job effectively.”

City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said Maresca’s preferred style of football suited the club.

“He is rejoining an organization that is entirely in lock-step with his ambition and hunger for achievement,” Al Mubarak said, “and his return to Manchester City is therefore a welcome natural next step for both him and the club.

“Enzo inherits a squad and football organization perfectly suited to reflect and evolve his brand of football, and we are all very much looking forward to seeing the impact he can have in building further on the club’s success.”

Guardiola urged his successor to ‘be yourself’

Guardiola was asked in his final news conference was City manager if he had a message to his successor, whoever that might be.

“Just be yourself,” Guardiola said. “The club will support you unconditionally, that’s the biggest compliment.

“Be yourself … be free and your ideas and work a lot. Everything will be fine.”

Still, replacing a long-serving managerial great often hasn’t worked out well.

Alex Ferguson, who was manager at Manchester United for nearly 27 years, retired in 2013 and handpicked his own replacement — David Moyes. Moyes didn’t last a season.

At Arsenal, Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger — who was coach there from 1996-2018 — and was fired after 18 months.

More recently, Arne Slot took over at Liverpool in the summer of 2024 after Jurgen Klopp’s nearly nine years in charge and won the Premier League in his first season. His second season has been tough, though, with Liverpool finishing the recently completed campaign in fifth place.

City awaiting verdict in legal case with Premier League

Maresca joins City at a potentially testing time for the club, which is currently involved in a huge legal case with the Premier League.

City was charged by the league in February 2023 with more than 100 financial breaches, including providing misleading information about its sources of income. The case was heard by an independent commission between September and December in 2024 but no verdict has been reached.

Punishment could be as extreme as expulsion from the top flight. City has always denied the charges.

Guardiola has bequeathed a strong squad to Maresca, though. City won the domestic cup double — the English League Cup and the FA Cup — this season and ran Arsenal close in the Premier League title race by going 15 matches unbeaten in the league until a much-changed lineup went down to a final-round loss to Aston Villa in Guardiola’s farewell game on May 24.

Reinforcements will be needed after the departures of stalwarts Bernardo Silva and John Stones, with England midfielder Elliot Anderson linked with City in widespread reports in the English media.

Maresca’s first games

Maresca’s first competitive game in charge of City will be at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Aug. 23. A week before that, City plays Arsenal in the Community Shield — the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season between the league and FA Cup winners.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer