{"id":1044,"date":"2026-04-26T13:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:27:14","slug":"former-chelsea-boss-enzo-maresca-emerges-as-leading-candidate-to-replace-manager-at-pl-giants-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=1044","title":{"rendered":"Former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca emerges as leading candidate to replace manager at PL giants: Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5158608\" data-slug-id=\"2772721\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Pep Guardiola as the Manchester City manager. As per reports, Guardiola could be on his way out of the Etihad in the summer after ten years in charge of the Premier League giants.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard was questioned regarding his plans for the future and he claimed that he is living in the present. He insisted that he is yet to decide his future and is only focused on the remainder of the season. He said, as quoted by Tribal Football:<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m living day by day, numbers are numbers, how fine we have been is how fine we have been, who we are is who we will be. It is a semi final at Wembley again. We will try to win.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>As claimed by Ben Jacobs via Tribal Football, Manchester City have identified Enzo Maresca as Guardiola&#8217;s successor. Maresca is reportedly free to speak to any club, and Chelsea cannot delay or block the 46-year-old from taking up a new role, having accepted his resignation.<\/p>\n<p>It has been reported that Maresca has already held talks with Manchester City officials. The Cityzens also won&#8217;t have to pay any compensation to Maresca&#8217;s former employers, Chelsea, for his services.<\/p>\n<p>Maresca was appointed Chelsea manager in the summer of 2024 and was relieved of his duties in January 2026. He guided the Blues to success in the UEFA Conference League 2024-25 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has enjoyed exceptional success during his decade-long stint at Manchester City. He has won 19 trophies at the club including six Premier League titles and one Champions League.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Manchester City considering summer move for Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez: Reports<\/h2>\n<p>Manchester City are reportedly plotting a move for Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez in the summer. The Cityzens are considering midfield reinforcements in the summer with Bernardo Silva set to leave following his contract expiry.<\/p>\n<p>Fernandez&#8217;s future at Stamford Bridge has been subject to speculation in recent weeks following his comments about the club&#8217;s hierarchy. He was even suspended by the club for two games for his remarks and it has been claimed that he could be seeking an exit in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid in recent months but the Cityzens have also reportedly joined the chase. The Argentine has scored 12 goals and provided six assists in 48 games across competitions this season.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Snehanjan Banerjee<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Pep Guardiola&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}