Out With the Bald and In With the... Bald - Is Enzo Maresca Really What Manchester City Need this Season?

Out With the Bald and In With the... Bald - Is Enzo Maresca Really What Manchester City Need this Season?

The Premier League has some new faces in the dugouts this season. However, one of them isn't new to the league but is new to the club. That will be Enzo Maresca changing from dark blue to light blue. Is he what City need, though?

Maresca is an interesting manager. He had success at Chelsea, winning the UEFA Conference League and the Club World Cup. However, other than that, his time wasn't anything amazing. He did a good job but nothing outstanding.

Maresca leaving might actually turn out incredible for Chelsea in the long-term.

£17m+ in compensation, allowing us to go for Xabi Alonso — the better long-term option for us.

Making moves for all of Pedro Neto, Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez — three deals likely costing ~£250m…

— Brian (@CFCMJordan) August 4, 2026

He played a modern style of football, one that you could see he picked up from his time under Pep. However, it was still his own style. When looking at Chelsea, there were three key positions. One of them was a ball-playing goalkeeper. While Sanchez did this, he wasn't amazing, and that led to a lot of issues in Maresca's first season. Donnarumma, while one of the best shot-stoppers in the world, has often been criticised for this exact reason. So, will it be a fit?

The next position was a full-back who could invert. Under Maresca, Marc Cucurella became one of the best left-backs in the world for this exact reason. City do have this position. Nico O'Reilly is more than technically good enough to play this role and have a large amount of success doing so. So, that makes one out of the two roles achievable.

The last role, and one that saved Maresca countless times, is what he used Enzo Fernandez as. That was a box-crasher. Someone who would make delayed runs and become a goalscoring threat because of them. City don't have an exact match for this. However, with Haaland as a striker, they might not need it, as he will be a permanent presence in the box for them.

🚨BREAKING: New Manchester city manager Enzo Maresca has reportedly handed the board his DREAM 5-man transfer shortlist to rebuild Manchester city this summer:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Cole Palmer
🇵🇹 Vitinha
🇫🇷 Kylian -… Love pic.twitter.com/Jgj3rkzbFz

— Brainard (@BrainardScoles) July 30, 2026

Overall, the key positions have been ticked in a way. So, the next question is, will it work? Well, there is still one outstanding issue: Maresca doesn't have a Plan B. We saw several times during his time at Chelsea that when his plan was working, they were flying, with both seasons seeing them sit second in the league. However, once it was figured out, they dropped off significantly.

So, with this in mind, will he work?

Well, yes and no. He isn't someone who will win anything in his first season. However, in a few years, once he's matured as a manager, he will prove why he was given this job. However, for the near future, I don't believe he is the man they need straight after Pep.