Enzo Maresca: Pep Guardiola’s success at Man City is the Italian manager’s ‘ultimate test’ at a club that ‘will only accept victory’ | Football news

Gary Neville has called Enzo Maresca’s job replacing Pep Guardiola at Manchester City “the ultimate test” – because the club will accept “less than victory” from the new manager.

Maresca faces the prospect of succeeding one of the most successful managers in English football history, Guardiola, who won 20 major trophies, including six Premier League titles, during his 10-year spell at the Etihad Stadium.

The Italian is familiar with these demands after spending a year as one of Guardiola’s assistants during City’s treble-winning season in 2022/23.

And he is no stranger to lifting silverware himself, having led Chelsea to Conference League and Club World Cup success during his full season in charge at Stamford Bridge – but he will face a very different weight of expectation as he returns to the north-west as manager for the first time.

“Nothing less than a win will be accepted at Man City with what has happened to the club over the last 10 years,” said Neville. Sky Sports News.

“With the players and squad they have at City, and winning trophies last season, it will put Maresca in a very different place than he was before.

“Chelsea expect to win but, at the moment, they are probably not at the same level as City. He knows the team and maybe he thinks it is the best time for his career.

“Obviously he’s been brought up very well in terms of his training journey, but this is a big job.”

While Neville was tight-lipped about his assessment of the job Maresca will have to do, he did offer hope for the 46-year-old’s chances of success thanks to the rebuilding process already completed at Man City – fueled by missing out on back-to-back Premier League titles for the first time under Guardiola.

“At the end of last season, Man City was starting to appear with a new team,” added Neville.

“The back four have started to look like they have it together with Nunes, O’Reilly, Guehi and Khusanov and they obviously have some very good attacking players in Cherki, Semenyo and Doku behind Haaland.

“If he can do well as a midfielder and get a chance to buy into the club, he has a good chance of doing something for City.

“We saw Arne Slot doing a great job following Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and going on to win the title in his first season.

“Obviously it didn’t go well for him next season, but obviously it’s a big challenge to follow the good that has done the job.”

Where does the City still need to improve?

The imminent £116m addition of Elliot Anderson looks set to boost City’s rebuild, with plans to sign another striker and an increased chance of signing a right-back to provide competition for Matheus Nunes.

Neville thinks the club is right to put in the extra work to get back to their former scoring record levels.

He said: “One area where City can strengthen is defence. They seem to be good at the other end of the pitch and Anderson is coming in to strengthen the midfield.

“Do you still need another midfielder to fill the gap in defense if there are injuries? That is where I will look to strengthen.

“Man City will score a bag of goals no matter who the manager is, but it’s about making sure they come together as a team to deal with the endurance you have to go through to win the Premier League title.”