Enzo Maresca sat down for his first press conference as Manchester City manager and opened with a gesture that had nothing to do with tactics, transfers or the size of Pep Guardiola's shadow. Before taking a single question, he asked to send a message to the family of Kevin Keegan, the former City manager who had died four days earlier, on July 20.

"Before we start, I would like to send a message and a big hug to Kevin Keegan's family for this moment," Maresca said (The Guardian). It was a quiet, human start to one of the most daunting jobs in football.

Maresca, 46, has replaced Guardiola, who won 20 trophies across a decade at the Etihad Stadium. That is the inheritance: a club transformed into the dominant force of English football, now handed to a man who knows the place well. A "Welcome back Enzo" billboard greeted him at the press conference, and the wording was deliberate. This is Maresca's third spell at City. He coached the club's elite development squad — the youth reserve team — in the 2020-21 season, then served as Guardiola's assistant during the 2022-23 campaign, when City won the treble (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in a single season).

His route back to Manchester came via a sharp rise elsewhere. Maresca led Leicester City to the Championship title (the second-tier league championship, which earns promotion to the Premier League), then moved to Chelsea, where he secured a fourth-place Premier League finish, won the Conference League (Europe's third-tier club competition), and lifted the FIFA Club World Cup with a 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the final. He left Chelsea on or around New Year's Day, with City paying £17 million in compensation to release him from his contract (The Guardian). Maresca has since apologised to Chelsea for the disruption his departure caused (Nine.com.au).

The scale of the task was not lost on him. Maresca pointed out that City have had only three managers in 17 years — Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Guardiola — and he name-checked Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger as examples of long-serving bosses whose successors found the going tough. He also insisted he is "not a copy and paste coach" (Sky Sports), a clear signal that he will not simply replicate Guardiola's methods. The two have spoken "a lot" since Guardiola decided to leave.

Maresca signed a three-year contract running until summer 2029, and was officially appointed on June 29 (Manchester City). He told the club's in-house media he "had no doubt" about taking the role and spoke of relishing the chance to work closely with Phil Foden, the Stockport-born playmaker who came through the academy Maresca once coached (Manchester City).

For fans, the appeal is obvious. Here is a manager who already knows the building, the people and the playing style, but arrives with a résumé built on his own terms. Brian Barry-Murphy, who succeeded Maresca as head of the elite development squad, once told Sky Sports that "Enzo is very similar to Pep" (Sky Sports). The similarity will be tested soon enough. City have scheduled an Asia tour for Maresca's first season, and the Premier League begins in August.

Replacing a manager who won 20 trophies in ten years is not a job for the faint-hearted. Maresca's opening act — a few warm words for a man who once sat in his chair — suggested he understands that the job is about more than results. It is about carrying a city's mood, and knowing when to stop talking football and speak like a human being.