The new PEP
Linked with Celtic and Aberdeen, Maresca has already been labelled...
LINKED with the managerial vacancies at both Celtic and Aberdeen, Enzo Maresca might not be the best known name on the bookmakers’ shortlists. Few would dispute he is the most intriguing.
A decorated 17-year playing career in Italy, England, Spain and Greece would be enough to force the 41-year-old on to any number of managerial shortlists. A box-to-box midfielder, Maresca won a Serie A title and an Italian Super Cup with Juventus. At Sevilla, he won two UEFA Cups and a UEFA Super Cup.
Yet his reputation as a deep-lying playmaker — former Fiorentina manager Emiliano Mondonico described him as a ‘complete player’ — may yet be overshadowed by his growing reputation as an up-and-coming coach. Currently in charge of Manchester City’s elite development squad, people around him are doing little to discourage a reputation as ‘the new Guardiola’.
As assistant manager to Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham, Maresca was credited with masterminding a rare 1-0 win over Chelsea.
His training sessions and management style were praised by players before the Hammers turned to David Moyes after sacking Chilean Pellegrini.
Headhunted by Guardiola to lead City’s Under-23 side last summer, Maresca has sought to model himself on the Catalan, who now stands on the cusp of another English Premier League title there.
For Celtic, Maresca would represent a huge gamble. New chief executive Dominic McKay is due to join the club as a replacement for Peter Lawwell in June. Manchester City’s loans manager Fergal Harkin has also been linked with a sporting director or recruitment role.
Hiring two newcomers to the Glasgow scene to key roles would be risky enough. A hat-trick would make the job of catching Rangers a significantly bigger ask.
Steven Gerrard and Michael Beale have shown that external experience doesn’t have to be an impediment to success. Amongst fans, there is a yearning for Celtic to break from the ‘club man’ mould and think outside the box. Whether Celtic could afford to wait as long as Rangers did for a league title is another question.
For now, Maresca refuses to indulge talk of a move.
Yet, when Derek McInnes left his post as manager of Aberdeen on Monday night, the Italian’s name was quick to surface as a candidate.
While Atlanta United coach and former Dons player Stephen Glass is widely expected to return to Pittodrie, chairman Dave Cormack has yet to offer any clues on what happens next.
Ambitious and keen to strike out on his own as a No1, Maresca remains focused on learning his trade, telling Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport last week of how closely he studied the Catalan’s methods at Barcelona and City before being approached for the role at the Etihad.
‘The first meeting was after a Barcelona-Malaga game,’ he explained. ‘Pep told me about his time with Brescia and (Carlo) Mazzone. In Manchester, the relationship was consolidated.
‘Pellegrini had just been sacked by West Ham. I was his assistant and I tried to take advantage of my free time to study Pep’s football. The continuous search for solutions and the energy.
‘The Premier League wears everyone out but he takes to the pitch every day with incredible energy.
‘The academy idea came later. There was some doubt at first relating to my staff but we managed to fix those problems and I accepted. I was offered a unique chance.’ As Sportsmail first revealed, Juventus first-team scout Matteo Tognozzi is keen to speak to Celtic about their plans for a sporting director. Both Tognozzi and Maresca passed through the Coverciano centre for coaching excellence in Italy. It was there that Maresca worked on a research paper drawing parallels between football and chess. ‘The spark went off in Spain. I took courses and read books,’ he continued. ‘My thesis at Coverciano is called “Football and Chess”. There are a lot of similarities. ‘The most important is positional play and strategy. For a coach, it’s important to have the mentality of a chess player: develop a plan, study counter moves, choose the arrangement of the pieces.’ In a real revamp of the whole footballing operation at Celtic, more focus will be placed on modern data and analytics. So far, speculation has revolved around recognised coaches such as Eddie Howe, Steve Clarke and Maresca than it has around old-school man-managers. The Parkhead club seem keen on a change of culture as well.
Former Scotland midfielder Robert Snodgrass (pictured left) believes Maresca can overcome a lack of experience to become the footballing figurehead.
‘What you see with Pep and his style of play, that’s what Enzo looked up to,’ Snodgrass told Go Radio. ‘When he was at West Ham, there were three or four different managers he’d study and try and work like in and out of possession.
‘Someone has to come in and give the Christies, Edouards and Griffiths their confidence back.
‘But I believe he’ll have other clubs trying to get him because he’s that good. I worked with him for 18 months before Moyes came in. West Ham wanted to keep him.
‘You could see he had all the credentials to be a top gaffer but the game is changing now and they want to be called coaches rather than managers because they want to coach players to become better.’