Ten years, and then a summer with nothing to defend
Pep Guardiola left the Etihad after a decade, and for once without a league title in the bag, Arsenal having taken the Premier League in May. Enzo Maresca has the keys now.
He knows the building. Maresca worked as Guardiola’s assistant at City before leaving to run Leicester, where he won the Championship and took them straight back up.
Chelsea were more complicated. Two trophies in 18 months, the Conference League and the Club World Cup, then the sack in January 2026 after falling out with the board. His Premier League win rate peaked at 49%, barely ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s 47%, and Chelsea averaged 1.74 points a game under him. Among 21st-century managers at the club with at least 30 games, only Frank Lampard and Pochettino did worse.
There is a recent precedent worth remembering, though. Arne Slot won the title in his first season at Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp walked out the door.
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71.5% with Rodri, 62.3% without
Midfield is the real problem. Rodri completed his move to Barcelona this week, and the hole he leaves has a number attached to it.
Since 2019, City have won 213 of the 298 matches he played, a rate of 71.5%. Across the 122 he missed, that drops to 62.3%. The defeat column is even blunter: 12.1% with him on the pitch, 26.2% without.
Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva have both left in the last two windows. City responded by paying £116m to prise Elliot Anderson away from Nottingham Forest. The England midfielder racked up 306 tackles and recoveries in the Premier League last season. Nobody else in Europe’s big five leagues cleared 212. Teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi, who caught the eye with Morocco at the World Cup, is reportedly next on the list.
Haaland scored 38 and still needs help
Erling Haaland finished with 38 goals in all competitions and a third Premier League Golden Boot on 27. One more and he matches the record shared by Alan Shearer and Mohamed Salah.
Behind him, the picture thins out fast. Antoine Semenyo, signed from Bournemouth in January, was second-top scorer on 11. Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki got 10 apiece, Omar Marmoush and Jeremy Doku eight, Savinho four. In the 2022-23 treble season, three players cleared 15 behind the Norwegian.
Foden is the puzzle Maresca has to solve. Ten goals and seven assists in 50 games, and not a single goal since 14 December 2025. Thomas Tuchel left him out of the World Cup squad. The new manager has form on this exact problem: Cole Palmer produced 35 goals or assists in 62 matches under him at Chelsea.
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