Maresca is part Italian, part Spanish in his approach to coaching and life.
His Spanish influence stems from his family, and his exposure to Guardiola’s Barcelona while he was at Sevilla and Malaga during the peak years of his playing career.
Facing a Barcelona side regarded by some as the greatest club team of all time opened Maresca’s eyes to a new way of playing, and helped spark the trend for technical, possession-based teams dominating at the highest level.
In Spain, Maresca also met his trusted assistant, Willy Caballero, and his children were born there. Spanish is now the main language spoken at home within his large family.
It was also his “football father”, former Manchester City and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, who identified during Maresca’s playing days that he had the qualities to become a coach.
This grounding helps explain the similarities between Maresca and Guardiola.
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has been open in his assessment of Enzo Maresca, with the Italian returning to the club following two previous stints – first with the academy and then alongside Guardiola as his assistant coach.
Khaldoon said: “He is one of Pep’s assistants at one point in his career so definitely – he will tell you – he is going to have taken a lot of inspiration in the philosophy of Pep, and you see that in his football.
“But he has also evolved his own philosophy. I think Enzo brings a lot to this club.”
The pair are known to be in regular contact and Maresca would not have been chosen without Guardiola’s knowledge, according to those close to them.
It is also understood that outgoing sporting director Txiki Begiristain recommended him as Guardiola’s heir when handing over his responsibilities to Hugo Viana upon leaving the club last summer.
Khaldoon added. “I think the fans will appreciate him as a manager, his football philosophy, his football and how the team is going to perform and go from strength to strength with Maresca’s leadership.
“I think it will be a great addition to the team. This is a big challenge – this scares off many people. The beauty with Enzo is he actually wants that challenge, he loves that challenge.”
Maresca was an influential figure during his single season under Guardiola, with the Spaniard often leaning on the former Chelsea boss for tactical innovations.
It was during that campaign that Guardiola rebranded England defender John Stones as a central midfielder, with him playing a starring role in the Treble-clinching Champions League final win against Inter Milan.
Maresca, who was head coach of City’s Elite Development Squad in the 2020-21 season, left a lasting impression on the academy.
Gareth Taylor, who now leads Liverpool’s women’s team and spent time with Maresca at City, told BBC Sport: “Enzo brought something a little bit different.
“He certainly had more freedom in the way he set up his teams, because previously most coaches in that environment were strictly told to follow a specific game model.
“It was as if no-one had that conversation with Enzo, but it was positive because you have to evolve – you cannot stand still tactically. At City, as long as you could back up your rationale, it would be listened to and potentially adopted.”
Of course, Maresca is still Italian and was also influenced by playing under legendary coaches Carlo Ancelotti and Marcelo Lippi.
However, after a poor first spell in management at Parma, his time in Manchester earned him a managerial role at Leicester City and then Chelsea.
