Enzo Maresca was officially appointed as the new head coach at Manchester City today, succeeding Pep Guardiola who left the club at the end of the season after a vastly successful decade-long run in charge. Maresca, who served as assistant to Guardiola for one of those ten seasons, certainly has his work cut out for him to live up to Pep’s legacy. It’s always tough to be the first one in after a legendary manager, and few have succeeded.
City are reportedly paying as much as 20m in compensation to
Chelsea to get their man, making Maresca one of the most expensive managers ever in professional football history. This fee was subject to plenty of lawyering over the past few weeks, and the two clubs hashed out the situation. Despite Maresca leaving Chelsea at the turn of the year, Chelsea were the aggrieved party in this situation, accusing City of tapping up our head coach and accusing the head coach himself of a potential breach of contract as well.
All of that has now been settled, and it sounds like we’re getting some compensation from Maresca himself as well. Chelsea have taken the extraordinary step of releasing an official statement about the whole situation, explaining the club’s version of events that led to Maresca’s exit and now his new job.
In Autumn last year, the Club was informed by our former Head Coach that there might be an opportunity for him to succeed Pep Guardiola at the end of the season. 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.
In December 2025, our Head Coach unexpectedly and abruptly resigned from his position. Obviously, we felt let down as we believed that his head and heart were focused on another club and another opportunity, despite having just arrived at Chelsea the year before.
No club wants to change its head coach midway through a season. However, in light of his decision not to continue fulfilling his responsibilities through to the end of the season, the Club was left with no choice but to protect our players, our supporters, and the Badge and accept his resignation.
In the circumstances and given the mutual respect between clubs, a confidential settlement has been reached with Manchester City, which includes the payment of compensation. A confidential settlement has also been reached with the former Head Coach under which he will pay compensation.
It should be noted that prior to his resignation, Maresca made it pretty clear that he felt entirely unsupported by the club, so placing all the blame on his sudden departure to just on his shoulders is probably not quite correct. The truth, as usual, is probably somewhere in between.
But, in any case, Maresca’s now long gone and whether it was his departure that really scuppered our season, or the club’s response to it, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Xabi Alonso, “a Manager who has an exceptional football mind and is a professional of the highest integrity”, as per the official statement (spicy!), is now here and he’s going to save the day. Right?
Right!
Onwards.
