Antoine Semenyo has backed Enzo Maresca to succeed at Manchester City as the club enter the post-Pep Guardiola era for the 2026-27 campaign.

Guardiola's trophy-laden decade at the Etihad Stadium came to an end following the conclusion of last season, with former assistant Maresca named as his replacement. 

The 46-year-old Italian rejoins the Citizens having also served as lead coach of their Elite Development Squad before working as part of Guardiola's coaching staff. 

He was previously in charge of Chelsea, where he won 55 of his 92 games at the helm (D16 L21), while also lifting the Conference League title and the Club World Cup. 

Maresca surprisingly resigned from his role at Stamford Bridge in December and put pen to paper on a three-year deal with City to replace the outgoing Guardiola. 

And Maresca has a tough act to follow. Guardiola won 20 major trophies with City, including six Premier League titles, the Champions League, and the Club World Cup.

Guardiola is also the only manager to win four English top-flight titles in a row, doing so between 2020-21 and 2023-24, and the only one to oversee a 100-point Premier League season (2017-18). 

Semenyo, however, believes there will be little change at the club because of Maresca's arrival, insisting his ideas and style of play are similar to those of Guardiola. 

"I think the transition now with Maresca. He's obviously been with the City Group before, so he's not unfamiliar with them," said Semenyo. 

"Everyone just has to adjust. Everyone has to buy into what his philosophy is, and it's not far off what Pep was doing last season for us.

"I'm looking forward to the seasons to come with him, and everyone's enjoying it so far."

After losing his first game on penalties following a 1-1 draw with Inter, Maresca claimed his first win in the City dugout with a 3-1 triumph over a K-League All-Stars team.

Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Divin Mubama were all on target for the Citizens, with Semenyo also getting an assist to his name. 

Guardiola's departure means this will be the third different manager Semenyo has worked under over the past year, having previously flourished under Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth before getting his mid-season move to City. 

"I have no choice but to adapt to the managers," Semenyo added. "Obviously, Iraola was high pressing, everything was about work ethic. 

"Coming to Pep, it was a lot more ball dominant and, to be fair with Maresca, it's quite similar. So I don't think there's too much change in that sense. 

"We've got a team; everyone's adjusting as well as myself, and everyone's going to buy into it, and hopefully we can be successful off the back of that."

Semenyo earned his transfer to City following a sensational start to the 2025-26 campaign. His 10 goals up until January 9 were joint-fourth most among Premier League players across all competitions, behind only Hugo Ekitike (11), Igor Thiago (17) and Erling Haaland (26). 

From there, he went on to score 11 more times and register three more assists for City, finishing the season with 27 goal involvements (21 goals, six assists) in all competitions. 

"I would say it was amazing with him," Semenyo said of his spell under Guardiola. "He's obviously known as one of the best managers in the world, and you can see why.

"Every day his meetings, his attention to detail, just like his player management, everything was amazing, and he helped me so much in those five, six months with my game."