Manchester City braced for official approach from league champions as interest in key staff member intensifies

Premier League champions Manchester City are bracing themselves for an official approach from Scottish Premier League giants Celtic for Enzo Maresca.

Parkhead officials are on the search for their new head coach ahead of the 2023/24 season, following Ange Postecoglou’s departure for Tottenham Hotspur, in a deal that was confirmed on Tuesday.

While a number of candidates would undoubtedly be interested in the task at hand with the prestigious Scottish club, one coach within the backroom staff at the Etihad Stadium is of particular interest to those at Celtic.

After rebuffing interest from recently relegated Southampton earlier this season, and attracting a level of conversation from Leicester City in recent days, Enzo Maresca is now a leading name for the top job at Celtic.

According to the information of Football Scotland this week, Manchester City are now bracing themselves to receive an official approach from Celtic – who intend to speak with Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach in the coming days.

It is reported that despite Maresca and his Manchester City colleagues preparing for a crunch Champions League final on Saturday afternoon, Celtic intend to make ‘tentative contact’ with a view to discussing his future in further detail after the contest in Istanbul has been and gone.

Enzo Maresca only recently returned to Manchester City in July 2022, after embarking on his first position as a head coach with Italian side Parma – a role in which he vacated back in November 2021 after failing to take the side back into Serie A.

Maresca replaced Juanma Lillo on Pep Guardiola’s bench for the ongoing season, after the Spanish coach became manager of Qatari club Al-Sadd.

43 year-old Maresca is held in extremely high-regard within the Etihad Stadium, having first involved with the Club back in the 2020/21 season, coaching Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad to the first Premier League 2 title in the organisation’s history.

While Pep Guardiola will be hoping for consistency amongst his backroom staff heading into next season, and as such retain the services of Enzo Maresca, the Catalan boss is not one to hold back players and staff members from fresh opportunities – as highlighted by Mikel Arteta’s move to Arsenal.