Pep Guardiola to leave Manchester City this summer, Enzo Maresca expected as successor

Pep Guardiola will leave his function as Manchester City supervisor this summer time, ending some of the profitable tenures in Premier League historical past, with former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca expected to substitute him.

Multiple sources briefed on the state of affairs say Guardiola is getting ready to depart City on the finish of a season by which his facet have gained the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, with Saturday’s conquer Chelsea securing a twentieth main trophy for the 55-year-old throughout a 10-year spell on the Etihad.

Maresca is now expected to take over at City, who could but win this season’s Premier League, 4 months after his exit from Chelsea.

The Athletic revealed in December that Maresca was high among those City were considering amid a rising sense that Guardiola would carry the curtain down on a glittering decade at City.

Maresca went on to exit Stamford Bridge in January and The Athletic disclosed that Maresca knowledgeable Chelsea — twice in late October and again in mid-December — he was speaking to City representatives about his candidacy for the function.

Guardiola’s City contract had been due to run till June 2027, having final signed recent phrases in November 2024.

City have two video games of the marketing campaign remaining, towards Bournemouth and Aston Villa, and these would mark the ultimate matches of an excellent reign by which the Catalan has guided City to 20 trophies, together with six Premier League titles and their first Champions League triumph, in 2023.

The residence match towards Aston Villa on May 24 — which might see them clinch the title if they’ll overturn leaders Arsenal’s two-point benefit — could be the final of Guardiola’s record-setting tenure as City supervisor.

Guardiola had shut down questions over his future within the construct up to and aftermath of Saturday’s FA Cup ultimate. “One more year of contract,” he replied when requested throughout his pre-match press convention if the cup ultimate could be his ultimate journey to Wembley as City supervisor.

“Rumours?,” he responded, when requested about his future by TNT Sports after the sport. He then made a hasty exit and added: “Have a lovely evening,”

The timing of Guardiola’s potential exit comes with the end result of — and any potential punishments from — the investigation into the more than 115 charges of alleged breaches of the Premier League’s monetary laws nonetheless to be communicated. City deny the allegations.

City’s long-serving director of soccer Txiki Begiristain, an in depth ally of Guardiola, left the membership on the finish of final season. Sporting CP’s Hugo Viana was subsequently introduced as his alternative.

Guardiola, who beforehand spent 4 years as Barcelona head coach and three at Bayern Munich earlier than taking the City job in the summertime of 2016, has often spoken in regards to the future in current months.

When requested the day after The Athletic’s story broke in December, Guardiola refused to confirm outright he would stay at City past this June, regardless of having a contract which runs till the summer time of 2027.

“I still enjoy it,” Guardiola mentioned, per City’s web site, when requested about beating Arsenal within the Carabao Cup ultimate. “Still, we are much better than last season but not the team we should be. That requires time. Hopefully, next season and the end of this season we can do it.”

Maresca has labored on the Manchester membership earlier than, main City’s Under-21s for the 2020-21 season and returning as a first-team assistant to Guardiola in the summertime of 2022.

The 46-year-old joined Chelsea in the summertime of 2024 after guiding Leicester City to promotion from the Championship. He led Chelsea to Champions League qualification and gained the Conference League and Club World Cup throughout his debut season in cost.

The Italian left the west-London membership on January 1 regardless of being below contract till 2029. He had beforehand sparked uncertainty over his future in December after he mentioned that the 48 hours earlier than their win towards Everton had been his “worst since I joined the club, because many people didn’t support us”.

He was changed by Liam Rosenior, who left his function as Strasbourg head coach to occupy the emptiness, who was himself dismissed in April.

City have struggled to preserve their dizzying ranges since profitable a record-extending fourth successive title in 2023-24, and completed third within the league final season — 13 factors behind eventual champions Liverpool.

They ended the marketing campaign with out a trophy and have been knocked out of the Club World Cup by Saudi Pro League facet Al Hilal within the spherical of 16 final summer time.

This time period, they’ve once more underperformed at instances and commenced the calendar yr by going 4 video games with out a win within the Premier League, including a 2-0 defeat by city rivals Manchester United. They have been additionally beaten 3-1 by Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt within the Champions League, however overcame Arsenal within the Carabao Cup ultimate to safe the season’s first piece of silverware.

City at the moment are two factors behind league leaders Arsenal, having re-ignited hopes of one other title after final month’s win over Mikel Arteta’s facet, earlier than handing the impetus again to the north London membership after dropping factors towards Everton.

A legacy like few others

Analysis by senior author Daniel Taylor

Has there ever been a supervisor with such a far-reaching legacy? First, there was the Barcelona crew, with Lionel Messi at its coronary heart, that had real claims to be probably the most fantastically assembled membership facet within the historical past of the game. Then there was the Manchester City crew that modified the panorama of English soccer.

But the trophies, the glories, the doubles, trebles and much more spectacular successes — six trophies, lest or not it’s forgotten, in a single yr for Barca — inform solely a part of the story about why Pep Guardiola can be remembered among the many real greats of his career.

Just look how his affect stretches to the decrease divisions of English soccer and the variety of groups who’ve used Project Pep to change their very own pondering.

Look how his ways have been copied, how it’s the norm today at each stage of the game for assaults to construct from the again, and the way his methodology has been taken on by a small military of different coaches.

It is identical all the way in which down the soccer pyramid, from youngsters’ matches to grassroots stage. It all begins with Guardiola — a pioneer, a shape-changer, a history-maker, even earlier than bearing in mind that it will want a small plane hangar to retailer all his trophies.

Football will keep on with out him. Yet if he does leave Guardiola’s affect will nonetheless be seen in England, and additional past, at soccer grounds of all totally different sizes. That, in itself, offers him credentials to be recognised as the actual Special One, even when that nickname has already gone to anyone else.

Pep in numbers

By Will Jeanes

Six of Guardiola’s trophies at City have been the league title, together with 4 in a row from 2020-21 to 2023-24 — the one time in your entire historical past of the English prime flight (1888-89 onwards) that this has been achieved.

In the third of these seasons, 2022-23, Guardiola lastly delivered the Champions League to the Etihad Stadium — fulfilling what had been the membership’s dream for the reason that Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008.

As properly as the Premier League and the Champions League, City additionally gained the FA Cup in that marketing campaign — turning into the second English membership to obtain the European treble after Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1998-99.

Guardiola additionally gained the treble at Barcelona, making him one in all simply two managers to attain European membership soccer’s holy grail twice.

Overall, although, it’s within the Premier League the place Guardiola has made his largest affect at City, ripping up the document books throughout his decade in Manchester — most notably the 100-point season in 2017-18.

In complete, 4 of the 11-best factors totals in a 38-game Premier League season have been achieved by the Spaniard at City.

How Guardiola modified English soccer

Analysis by soccer knowledge author Thom Harris

It is tough to overstate the magnitude of Guardiola’s affect, not solely on the way in which that soccer seems to be and feels within the Premier League, however all through England’s skilled panorama as a complete.

Though it took a season for his concepts to sink in — all of us bear in mind Claudio Bravo and a variety of his early City full-backs nervously tucking into midfield — Guardiola’s philosophy finally sustained probably the most dominant crew that the Premier League has ever seen. Before him, English soccer’s most profitable managers championed physicality, directness and fast mixtures on the counter-attack. Guardiola sought to gradual issues down management video games with settled possession, and transfer the ball into areas that the meticulous planning and participant positioning would create.

Such was the success of Guardiola’s facet that groups quickly started to imitate his method. The goalkeeper shortly turned an essential determine within the build-up as an additional man, whereas defenders up and down the nation started to take dangers passing out from the again. As we are able to see from the visualisation under, common cross completion statistics by means of England’s prime 4 leagues crept up as his City crew flourished, with extra sides prioritising technical gamers and working towards passing patterns to assist them play by means of the press.

When Guardiola joined City in 2016, there was widespread resistance to his methods, nearly a desperation to show that his fast passing soccer might by no means work on these shores.

As he strikes in direction of his departure, ten years, six Premier League titles, 5 League Cups, three Community Shields, two FA Cups, a Premier League factors document and a Champions League trophy later, he has confirmed these doubters unsuitable.

What now for City?

Analysis by Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee

This can be a shock for lots of followers, regardless of the regular build-up of tales about Guardiola’s future over the previous few months, beginning with David’s story about City’s curiosity in Maresca in December.

Guardiola himself has talked about how glad he’s at City and that he has a contract for one more season, and he has talked about being again with the squad to go once more subsequent season on a variety of events.

That has been thought of by some sufficient proof that he has not been interested by leaving the membership in current months, particularly for the overwhelming majority of City followers who don’t need that to be the case. They desperately need him to keep for as lengthy as potential, which is basically the identical place as the membership itself.

Figures together with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak will all the time attempt to persuade Guardiola to keep, and contemplating his insatiable drive to maintain reaching new targets, mixed with the promise proven by a crew that might but win a home treble this season, there’ll all the time be hope that he might but be satisfied to do another season, no less than.

But this has been the route of journey for a while now. There are sources round City who had heard as way back as final summer time that this could be Guardiola’s final season, and that line of pondering has constructed up actual momentum over the previous few weeks.

City followers are not any strangers to huge departures on the finish of a season; all through Guardiola’s decade in cost they’ve mentioned goodbye to Pablo Zabaleta, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne, all in consecutive years. Throw in Ederson and Kyle Walker final season, too.

This summer time it will likely be each Bernardo Silva and John Stones saying goodbye, and the chances are Guardiola will be part of them.

It guarantees to be a giant summer time of change for City. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

City have all the time managed to transfer on, normally sooner however generally later, regardless of the significance of the participant departing, however a lot of that may be put down to Guardiola’s steadying hand.

It is tempting to consider that with out Guardiola, every part adjustments. For all that the membership have had sensible gamers, the success of the academy and the power of the off-pitch buildings, he has been the figurehead that has pulled every part collectively.

Just as it seems to be sure that Guardiola will leave, it seems that Maresca could possibly be the chosen alternative. That may break up opinion amongst supporters, not least as a result of many would have been hoping for Vincent Kompany, however what is for certain is that Guardiola and Maresca have grow to be shut and there are similarities between them.

Many Chelsea gamers converse very extremely of Maresca and people at City in the course of the Italian’s time as Guardiola’s assistant, and in his function as Under-23s boss, say that he’s a particularly detailed, personable coach.

Considering the potential for a brand new supervisor and the departures of long-serving Guardiola cornerstones like Stones and Silva, this is shaping up to be a giant summer time of change at City.