Enzo Maresca Is Starting to Earn the Trust of the Manchester City Dressing Room After His First Preseason Victory.

The players backed the Italian and assured that the post-Guardiola transition will be natural

Guardiola's legacy and Maresca's challenge

Pep Guardiola's departure from Manchester City marked the end of a golden decade with 20 titles, six Premier Leagues, one Champions League, and one Club World Cup. His mark is so deep that any successor faces an extremely high bar. Enzo Maresca, former Chelsea coach and former collaborator of Guardiola himself, took on the challenge with a three-year contract. His record includes 55 wins in 92 matches with the Blues and international titles, giving him solid credentials to lead City in this new phase.

Semenyo supports the transition

Antoine Semenyo, the Ghanaian forward who shone at Bournemouth before joining City, was one of the first to publicly back Maresca. "The transition will be smooth. He was already at City Group, he's not a stranger. His philosophy is not far from what Pep was doing last season," he assured. The forward emphasized that, although he worked with three different coaches in a year, Iraola, Guardiola, and now Maresca, the Italian's ideas maintain the essence of possession and control that characterized the previous cycle. "I don't think there will be too many changes. We all have to adapt and buy into his idea," he added.

First triumph and expectations

After a debut defeat on penalties against Inter, Maresca achieved his first victory on the City bench with a 3-1 win against a K-League All-Stars team. The goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, and Divin Mubama, along with Semenyo's assist, shaped a victory that boosts confidence in the new project. The forward, who ended last season with 27 goal contributions, also recalled what it meant to work with Guardiola: "It was incredible. His attention to detail and the way he handled the players helped me a lot."