Updated: 19 May 2026 08:24 BST |<\/span> Cameron Smith Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Enzo Maresca has reached a full verbal agreement to become the new Manchester City manager following news that Pep Guardiola will step down this summer.<\/p>\n The Italian left Chelsea by mutual consent on New Year\u2019s Day, after a bust-up with the Stamford Bridge hierarchy, and he has been heavily linked with a Man City switch ever since.<\/p>\n It\u2019s understood that Maresca held talks with the Etihad Stadium side before leaving Chelsea in January and he is now set to return to the club this summer as Guardiola\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n The 46-year-old has been the heavy favourite to become the new Man City boss for several months and a full agreement has now been reached, as per Fabrizio Romano. The transfer expert posted on X<\/b>: \u201cBREAKING: Enzo Maresca has a total verbal agreement with Manchester City, HERE WE GO!<\/p>\n \u201cThe Italian manager has always been considered the ideal candidate to replace Pep Guardiola. Deal in place and Maresca will sign an initial three year deal at Man City. New era, soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Maresca coached Man City’s U21 side during the 2020-21 season, before becoming the permanent Parma head coach, and he then returned to the club as Guardiola’s assistant manager in 2022-23, playing a key role en route to a historic treble.<\/p>\n Following his stint alongside Guardiola, Maresca was appointed as Leicester City boss and he guided the club to the Championship title during his only campaign at the club. He then spent one-and-a-half years at Chelsea before his exit on 1 January.<\/p>\n Confirmation that Maresca will become the new Man City manager this summer comes after reports emerged on Monday evening that Guardiola will step down following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n The legendary manager’s current deal at the Etihad Stadium doesn’t expire until 2027, but rumours have indicated that he could leave the club one year early and this was confirmed by The Daily Mail<\/b><\/i> on Monday.<\/p>\n It’s reported that Man City are expected to make Guardiola’s exit official “some time on Sunday,” likely after their final Premier League match of the season versus Aston Villa.<\/p>\n The club, having won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup this season, will then hold an open-top bus parade on Monday to celebrate the Spaniard’s incredible 10-year stint at the Etihad Stadium.<\/p>\n Build The FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122: LEGO\u00a9 releases stunning football-inspired collection<\/b><\/p>\n Arsenal Transfer News Today: Endrick update as Gunners present ‘compelling offer’<\/b><\/p>\n Chelsea Transfer News Today: Osimhen wanted as Alonso makes major call<\/b><\/p>\n Man Utd Transfer News Today: Anderson message delivered as contract agreement confirmed<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Alonso to sell ‘untouchable’ Chelsea star to fund \u20ac100m signing<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Updated: 19 May 2026 08:24 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith |…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11066","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\/11066","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=11066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Pep Guardiola to leave Man City<\/h2>\n
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