World Sports reported that Manuel Pellegrini once gave Enzo Maresca advice to treat players like his own children and always stay true to yourself.
As a former football player, Maresca was given this advice when he began his coaching career. He served as a technical advisor at West Ham United for two years before becoming Pellegrini's right-hand man. Since the summer of 2024, Maresca has been trying to establish a direction for Chelsea, a club that has a tendency to drift. So far, he has won the Club World Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
Maresca’s first independent coaching was in the Manchester City reserve team. In his free time, he would "sneak" into first-team training to absorb Guardiola's philosophy.
"He was very curious and attended almost all training sessions to analyze what we were doing. He would ask us why we did certain things at the weekend. When he joined our team, this curiosity increased exponentially. He shared his doubts because he was becoming a coach." recalled Carles Planchart, who once worked in Manchester City's technical team.
After experience in the reserve team, Maresca served as head coach of Parma in the second division for a few months before returning to England to join Guardiola's team. Maresca was obsessed with the way the ball came out, partly due to the influence of his friend Roberto De Zerbi. De Zerbi, a friend he grew up with in Milan's youth academy, is now Marseille's manager and is a well-known Guardiola follower.
"He has learned many ways to play the ball out from the back and puts a lot of emphasis on it. Working with Guardiola is very beneficial for him because the latter is a creative master of the ball." Planchart explained.
In the end, they learn from each other and inspire each other. For Guardiola's team, Maresca is an "almost ex-player" presence.
"He has a close relationship with the players and even participates in their training. The players feel close to him and don't see him as a distant police coach. He helps us convey the message better." Planchart said.
Maresca is 45 years old, one year older than his assistant Willy Caballero. The two played together in Malaga. When Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, Caballero was already in the team.
"Willy and Enzo have a great personal relationship, which is not common in professional football." Planchart explained.
One of Guardiola's first moves was to bring in Claudio Bravo to pass the ball with his feet from the back. But the Chilean struggled to adapt to the demands of the Premier League, forcing him to become more decisive. Willy Caballero had his moments.
"He has improved a lot in terms of his foot skills, but he is better at reading the game, knowing where there is space, who is a free agent, when to play long balls, and how to choose the wing based on the opponent's pressure. Some people have this ability, and some people do not. He has this ability." Planchart said.
Caballero later went to Chelsea, and by then he had already developed a keen interest in the "why" of the game. "He is a high-level coach," the analyst added.
Caballero ended his career at Southampton, where he originally planned to become goalkeeping coach. Here are his plans for the short and medium term future. But everything changed when Maresca called him and invited him to join the coaching staff of Leicester City (English Championship). In the first few months, they defeated all their opponents and brought the "Foxes" back to the Premier League a year later. Chelsea paid £10 million to sign Maresca.
"A lot of the things that he thought were very good in terms of playing the ball were not applied at Leicester City and now Chelsea. This shows that he is a good coach because he has to adjust tactics according to the players, the situation and the goals." Planchart reflected, "It takes a little luck to reach these levels."
Maresca himself knows it well: he started as an analyst for Atlético Barcelona and has been with Guardiola for nearly two decades.
"Maresca came because Juanma Lillo left. Without this, he might not have had the chance to work with Guardiola. So there would have been no chance to go to Leicester City and finally to Chelsea. Just like Caballero, if he had stayed at Southampton, there would have been no chance to work with his friends. They are all very good people, which is very important." Planchart concluded.