Enzo Mareschi's task next season as Leicester manager will be very different from his task last campaign when he was one of the managers Pepa. Guardiola coaches at Manchester City. Photo: Plumb Images
Enzo Maresca wants Jamie Vardy to stay at Leicester and spearhead the club's bid for a return to the Premier League.
In his first interview since appointed Leicester manager, Maresca laid out his plan for the relegated club and how they convinced him to accept the job in the midst of Manchester City's treble celebrations.
The Italian, City manager last season, also paid tribute to the «genius» Pep Guardiola.
But clarity about the future of Vardy, the 36-year-old striker who scored just three league goals last season, is likely to cause excitement among Leicester fans.
«He will stay with us yes,» Maresca told Telegraph Sport. «That's what we're doing right now, looking at the roster and planning for next season.»
Jamie Vardy remains Maresca insists on King Power Hotel. Photo: Reuters/Molly Darlington
The fact that Maresca is building these plans is bewildering. A key member of Guardiola's coaching staff. He was last seen in those tumultuous days after City's Champions League final victory hugging Jack Grealish on the way home.
Now his next move in football will be to take his place in the away reserve in pre-season friendly match against Northampton Town.
However, Maresca is adamant that the championship is not a step down — not when he realizes his ambitions to become a manager. “That's what I've always wanted to do,” he says.
He may not have become a household name yet, but Maresca has served his time. Manuel Pellegrini's assistant at West Ham, he worked with City's youth teams before joining Parma.
Last season, Guardiola hunted him for a job in the first team, to which Maresca agreed — with one caveat. “From the very first moment, Pep knew that I really wanted to be a manager,” says Mareska. “He knew that I thought he was the best coach in the world and that I went there to help him and work with him. But he always encouraged me to keep improving.”
His promotion could have come even sooner if Leicester got their way. Following the dismissal of Brendan Rodgers, an attempt was made to kick him out of Etihad. But when high frequencies were at stake, Maresca made them wait.
“We played so many games in all the different competitions,” he adds. «I left everything on the sidelines until the Champions League final.»
Then relegation followed, Dean Smith left and the seat became vacant again. This time around, as he celebrated City's triumph in Istanbul, Maresca was in no mood to hang around here.
But the reality for Maresca is that he inherited a Leicester team that has been in steady decline for several years . years. In Yuri Tielemans they have lost one of their best players and most likely James Maddison and Harvey Barnes will follow him out of the club.
Maresca is unlikely to use James Maddison next season. Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough
It's not an easy rebuild, especially for a newcomer — even for someone with an impressive resume like Maresca. Given the turmoil, can Leicester really bounce back the first time around? “Yes, this is the one and only goal,” insists Mareska. «Realizing that we have to replace many players, many of whom have been very key players, representing the club lately.
«First of all, we must try to build and assemble a good team, and from now on we will see what we can achieve with it.”
Maresca is an exciting assignment, in part because he studied under Guardiola, the man who has shaped modern English football more than anyone else – a training he calls “ continuous learning process, every single day.
And while Maresca tries to downplay the possibility that Leicester will copy City's lock, stock and barrel, «it's impossible because, first of all, City have Pep and no one else has a manager like him.» » — you feel that Enzoball will have more than a passing resemblance to the ideals instilled in him by Guardiola.
He speaks of «good play», a phrase that Guardiola often uses to describe not only beauty but also functional football, and he shares the Catalan's beliefs about positional discipline.
«The most important thing in the beginning is to give the players understand exactly where they should be, what positions they need to take on the field, ”he says. «Most of the time they don't need to move that much, and it's often more important to stay in one place than to run that much.
Maresca called working with Pep Guardiola «an ongoing learning process every single day.» Credit: Shutterstock/Adam Vaughan
«And that's what you need to implement because it's not that easy.»
As a former City youth coach, Mareska also has an impressive contact book and, will probably be in line. when it comes to loan deals for the next generation of talent. “One or two of them would suit us very well!” he laughs.
“There are really a lot of young players at City that I know very well, having worked with them at the under-23 level and coached them this season. Players of the highest class, but now it would be wrong to name any names, because the guys are going on vacation and maybe thinking about what awaits them next.
The conversation returns to the treble. , as it will inevitably happen for the first graduate of Guardiola's 23rd grade who will try his luck elsewhere.
You may have seen the photo of Grealish, whose celebrations have captured the public imagination more than anyone, joyfully hugs Marescu.
The love with which Maresca was held at Manchester City can be clearly seen in this photo of Jack Grealish hugging him after the triumph in the Champions League. Photo: Getty Images/Tom Flathers
This man took a front row seat at the biggest celebration of English football in years. “We partyed for days,” says Mareska. What do you mean… you kept up with Jack Grealish? “I couldn't do that! I don't have that kind of stamina!»
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