The Italian was today confirmed as the Club’s new manager with Maresca taking up the reins in succession to Pep Guardiola on a three-year contract.
It marks Enzo’s third spell at the Etihad, with Maresca having made a huge initial impact at City working as lead coach of our EDS side in the 2020/21 season.
Under the 46-year-old’s inspired tutelage, a squad boating stellar talents such as Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and skipper Tommy Doyle to name just a few, stormed to what was City’s maiden PL2 title triumph.
The swashbuckling manner and style with which the City youngsters achieved that success garnered widespread admiration and acclaim.
As Maresca now prepares for the challenge of taking charge of City’s first team in succession to Guardiola, we revisit the thoughts of members of his EDS class of 2021 as they discussed the Italian’s impact shortly after that PL2 success.
It’s fair to say they provided a fascinating insight into his superb coaching acumen and finely attuned man-management skills.
For Tommy Doyle, skipper of that EDS side and now with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Maresca’s drive, hunger and supreme focus highlighted just what a special figure he was.
“Enzo was just amazing,” revealed Doyle, who spent the 2025/26 season on loan at Birmingham City.
“I always remember quite early on after he arrived, where he took me and Cole [Palmer] to one side and just said: “Listen, you have to bring a level to this team. And that comes every day in training.’
“His message was: ‘If you’re messing around or you think this level’s too easy, you won’t play for me.’
“And he said, ‘I’ll tell Pep and you can just stay and train with the first team.’
“He stressed that we needed to bring a good level to the team because I think he knew how good we all were, and obviously he knew Cole and I were training with the first team almost every single day.
“So, I think he knew that our level was really high. But I think he also knew when you drop down [from being with the first team], you can kind of take your foot off the gas, not that we did but maybe subconsciously some players can do that.
“Or maybe some lads just have a little bit of an arrogance to them because they think they’re too good to be playing at Under-21 level.
“But Enzo’s message was simply: ‘Listen, that’s not going to be the case here. You’re going to train just as hard here as what you did do with the first team and have the mentality that we’re going into every game to win.’
“He was a massive part of what we all achieved.
“Obviously, I had a good relationship with him being his captain and I think he just utilised us all really well.
“We had such a talented squad, but people didn’t realise that we were going to be hungry and wanting to win, which came from him and us.
“That season we just blew teams away really. It was so enjoyable to be honest
“Obviously, I went on to face Enzo when I was at Wolves playing against Chelsea when he was in charge there and it was no surprise to see him do so well as a top manager at such a big club.
“I am so looking forward to him seeing his next managerial role [at City].”
For goalkeeper Cieran Slicker, another key member of City’s EDS class of 2021, Maresca’s impact wasn’t just felt on the pitch and training ground, but also in the way he helped shape his young players’ overall development as people too.
Slicker, now plying his trade with an Ipswich Town squad newly promoted back to the Premier League, also believes the lessons and learnings he gained under Maresca proved defining.
“I developed so much as a player and a person that season - and I think a lot of that came from the manager,” revealed the Scotland international who spent the 2025/26 season on loan at Barnet.
“I could never put a good enough word in for Enzo and how he was that year I was with him. He taught me such a lot.
“Even in terms of training standards - he always brought that intensity and focus. And I think from the mentality side of things, it definitely improved me that year.
“That was the first real year where I think I started off the season not playing too much as Traff [James Trafford] was playing a lot.
“But even that’s helped me to this day. It’s like knowing how to be in the moment all the time and almost using it as a bit of fuel to try and push on. That massively helped and came from the manager.
“I also think Enzo coming in and treating it as a first team environment helped all the boys and prepared us all for the reality of stepping into first team football. It made the transition a lot easier.
“To see what all the boys from that side have gone on to achieve is incredible. And a lot of that was down to Enzo’s management.”
At the age of just 17, Alex Robertson was the veritable baby of the squad assembled by Maresca.
The Australian international midfielder is now with Cardiff and proved a key part as the Bluebirds secured promotion to the Championship this season.
For Robertson, Maresca’s managerial acumen and guidance were to also provide invaluable inspiration helping guide his career progression.
“Looking back, I think I probably learned such a lot from Enzo because I was so young, I was just 17 at the time,” began Robertson.
“He taught me a bit of patience and how you needed to always look to try and take your chance when you got it.
“And I think when I did get my chance, I just tried to enjoy it as much as I could as I enjoyed playing with great players and under such a great manager.
“Enzo was really good. I think it was known at the time that Pep had brought him in off his own back from West Ham where he had been coaching the first team.
“Everyone was thrilled to be able to work under a coach like that and when you saw Enzo’s style of play and his coaching tactics it was pretty easy to learn off him.
“You also knew right from then that he was going to go on and do good things.
“He then left to join Parma and then came back to City [to work with Pep] and I was able to work under him as the first team assistant coach quite a few times in my last season at City with the Under-21s.
“To be able to get to work with him again then was really good and he was such an easy coach to learn off.
“And he also made it so enjoyable to play and learn from him.”
