Pep Guardiola once laughed inexplicably when he first heard Enzo Maresca being called "Pep dieting version".
Pep is on a diet? Do you mean hair or beard?" - the Spanish coach humorously asked again during Manchester City's summer tour in the US in 2024.
At that time, Maresca had just taken over Chelsea and this nickname began to spread because his coaching style bears many of Guardiola's imprints. Now, when Guardiola is preparing to leave Man City at the end of the season, Maresca himself has emerged as the top candidate to succeed him at Etihad. And this is not a coincidence.
The Citizens understand Maresca very well after two periods of working at the club itself. Conversely, the Italian strategist also deeply understands the operation of the team, from the academy structure to the football philosophy that Guardiola and the board of directors have built over a decade.
Maresca first joined Man City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite facing many limitations due to isolation regulations, he still made a strong impression with his ability to organize and analyze tactics, regularly preparing online meetings with the coaching staff to "dissect" opponents.
After officially working at the academy, Maresca quickly helped Man City U23 team win the Premier League 2 championship with a 14-point gap. It was during this period that he contributed to developing many young talents such as Cole Palmer or Liam Delap.
Those successes helped Maresca get the opportunity to coach in Serie B from Parma, although his time in Italy was not too successful. However, Guardiola still highly appreciated the ability of his old partner and brought him back to Etihad in 2022. That was also the season Man City won the historic treble.
In a Netflix documentary about that achievement, Maresca appears as an important tactical assistant, often exchanging directly with Guardiola in decisive moments, including the Champions League final against Inter Milan.
After that, Maresca continued to make a splash when he helped Leicester promote to the Premier League and then moved to Chelsea, where he won the Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup.
Although he has never received absolute support from fans, Maresca is still highly appreciated for his clear tactical thinking and ability to build a playing system.
The most important point for Man City is that Maresca does not need time to adapt to the environment at Etihad. He understands how the club operates, understands tactical requirements as well as the standards left by Guardiola.
That makes the transfer of power at Man City completely different from the chaos that happened at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson.
Guardiola once affirmed that Man City has built a stable environment to the point that "the only thing players can complain about is not being in the starting lineup".
Of course, replacing Guardiola is still an almost impossible task. But if anyone understands that system enough to continue to maintain it, Maresca is probably one of the few most suitable people. The question is whether "Pep dieting version" can help Man City continue to dominate.
