Credit: Imago

Cameron Smith

Tue 19 May 2026 12:00, UK

Former West Bromwich Albion man Enzo Maresca is in line for the job at Manchester City.

With the 2025-26 campaign coming to a close, the iconic Pep Guardiola is set to leave City at the end of the season, after an illustrious 10-year spell at the helm.

As a result, former Leicester City and Chelsea boss Maresca is deemed next in line for the soon-to-be vacant position.

Maresca spent a period working under Guardiola at the Etihad before guiding Leicester to the Premier League in 2024 and Chelsea to a Conference League and Club World Cup triumph a year later.

The Italian starred for a short period at The Hawthorns during his playing career, and fans will wish him well as he takes what is potentially the nation’s top job.

West Brom fans have prior memories of Maresca

Across one and a half seasons in the Black Country, the former midfielder made 52 appearances – firing the Baggies into the playoffs in 1999.

After a positive spell, he would be poached by Italian giants Juventus, seeing his West Brom spell cut short.

For what was then a club-record sale, Maresca left in January 2000 for a fee of £4.3million, after arriving on a free from Cagliari in 1998.

Despite his excellence at The Hawthorns, fans believe the move was the correct one for the club, with some similarities to Torbjorn Heggem’s departure last summer.

As is well-documented, this season did not pan out as expected for Albion, despite raking in the cash from the sales of Heggem and Tom Fellows last summer.

As a result, this led to the sacking of Ryan Mason at the midway point of the season, leading some fans to even clamour for Maresca following his shock Chelsea departure at the same time.

Though this would be quickly shut down by Baggies fans at the time, highlighting his links with Manchester City back in January, with rumours of Guardiola’s departure beginning to circulate.

Maresca would overcome West Brom twice in the 2023-24 season, with his Leicester side winning the Championship as they were promoted back to the Premier League.

With his work at the King Power in mind, Chelsea would offer him a chance following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure that summer.

At that point, Albion supporters were keen to wish him well as he took one of the nation’s biggest jobs, while celebrating Chelsea’s 6-2 win against Wolves in the second match of the 2024-25 season.

Now, with the Italian set to take one of the biggest jobs in European football, supporters in the Black Country will undoubtedly wish him well once again, though the Baggies faithful will wonder what could have been, had he spent the early days of his managerial career at The Hawthorns.

Manchester City is a big step for Enzo Maresca

Chelsea proved a tough job for Maresca in the end, not aided at all by the haphazard nature of their recruitment and extremely large squad.

Though he was able to extract the best from the group, the decline since his departure is indicative of the ability he possesses.

After lifting the Championship title with Leicester in 2024, he would go on to triumph in both the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup with the West London club, before his shock departure at the top of this year.

Replacing Guardiola, though, is potentially the most difficult task to place on the shoulders of any manager – even more so given the fact that Maresca has spent just two and a half years as a head coach.

For the last decade, Manchester City have remained relentless across all competitions, finishing a term without a trophy just twice.

Taking over at a club so used to winning, this move could make or break the managerial career of the former West Brom man.