Enzo Maresca to become Man City assistant following Juanma Lillo departure

Forum 1 year ago

Enzo Maresca to become Man City assistant following Juanma Lillo departure

Manchester City have agreed terms with Enzo Maresca to return to the club as Pep Guardiola's new assistant manager.

The Premier League champions have lost former number two Juanma Lillo, who has taken up the manager role with Qatari side Al-Sadd - much to Guardiola's frustration.

Guardiola credited Lillo with some enormous work after he replaced Mikel Arteta in 2020, keeping the players happy in training when they had not always been under his predecessor, but sources have now confirmed to 90min that Maresca is coming in to take his place.

Maresca was City's Under-23 manager during the 2020/21 season, leading the team to emphatic glory in the Premier League 2 before leaving to become Parma's manager last summer.

He lasted just 14 games with the Italian side, however, before being relieved of his duties following a string of poor performances and results.

Nevertheless, Guardiola remains a huge fan of Maresca and a deal has now been struck to bring the Italian back to Manchester.

Maresca has plenty of experience in England. On top of his previous spell with City, he worked as an assistant to Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham between July 2018 and December 2019, and he also spent 18 months on the books at West Brom as a player 1998 and 2000.