Guardiola's assistant becomes Leicester coach

Enzo Maresca, Pep Guardiola's assistant at Man City in the 2022-2023 season, has been appointed as Leicester's coach on a contract until 2026.

"Initially, my goal was to help Leicester play in the best possible way," Maresca told Leicester's website after signing. "From there, we can build day by day the ideas and philosophy, the most important thing is to aim for victory. That's our job, our mission. Then, as I said, day by day, step by step, we will definitely improve."

Maresca made his debut at Leicester on June 16. Photo: LCFC — Maresca made his debut at Leicester on June 16. Photo: *LCFC*

Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said he had been eyeing Maresca for a long time and felt the Italian would bring a combination of personality, methods and ambition that would suit Leicester’s direction. The Thai businessman welcomed Maresca and was confident that together they could reset Leicester’s roadmap for future success.

In April 2023, coach Dean Smith was appointed to replace Brendan Rodgers on a contract until the end of the season with the aim of helping the club stay in the league. Craig Shakespeare and English football legend John Terry were also appointed to the coaching staff. At that time, Leicester was second to last in the Premier League with eight games left. However, Smith only helped Leicester gain nine points and had to play in the Championship next season. Therefore, Leicester's board of directors decided not to renew the contract with the English coach.

After being relegated, Leicester said goodbye to seven players on free transfers, including Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Perez and Tete. In addition, star James Maddison is being sought by Newcastle and Tottenham, Harvey Barnes is negotiating with Aston Villa and West Ham, while Jamie Vardy's future is unclear.

Maresca's immediate task will be to build a new team for Leicester with the ambition of returning to the Premier League from the 2024-2025 season.

Maresca played for West Brom, Juventus, Fiorentina... He started his coaching career as an assistant at Ascoli, Sevilla and West Ham. In August 2020, he was chosen by Man City to lead the youth team and immediately helped the club win the Premier League 2.

Maresca (right) stands next to Guardiola at Man City's training ground. Photo: Man City FC — Maresca (right) stands next to Guardiola at Man City's training ground. Photo: *Man City FC*

In May 2021, Maresca tried his hand at being a head coach at a professional club for the first time, when he led Parma in Serie B. Despite possessing a highly rated squad with Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon or midfielder Franco Vazquez, Maresca could not bring Parma to the promotion group and was fired on November 23, 2021.

In June 2022, Maresca returned to Man City as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, replacing Juanma Lillo, who accepted to lead Qatari club Al Sadd. The Etihad Stadium owner had a historic season when he won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

Maresca is Guardiola's second assistant to leave Man City to take charge of another club in England, after Mikel Arteta. The Spanish coach was Guardiola's "deputy" from 2016 to 2019, then returned to Arsenal in a new role, winning an English Community Shield and an FA Cup. In the 2022-2023 season, Arteta and Arsenal became Guardiola's biggest rival, holding the top spot for most of the season but ran out of steam in the final stages and lost the championship to Man City.

Hong Duy

Source link