Chelsea started the 2025-26 season relatively well under Enzo Maresca but they found it difficult to maintain momentum. Despite that the decision to part ways with Enzo Maresca midway through the season, just months after winning the Club World Cup, sent shockwaves amongst the fans even for a club like Chelsea, who does not think twice before taking a harsh call about their managers.
Half a year on from that saga, while Chelsea failed to win any trophies or even qualify for the Champions League, Maresca was appointed to the hot seat of Manchester City, as Pep Guardiola successor. While many were baffled by the Blues’ decision to sack Maresca mid season despite challenging on all fronts for multiple trophies, it has now been revealed that it was Maresca’s desire to join Man City and his discussion, that ultimately prompted the West London side to take the decision.
It has been revealed that Chelsea will receive £17 million in compensation from City and an undisclosed amount where Maresca personally pays compensation to the club following his sudden, which now appears as resignation rather than sacking.
Even though Maresca is yet to fully begin his tenure as Man City boss, the memes have already started to flood in, as many likened the situation to that of the phase when Rachel started dating Russ in the famous show FRIENDS.
For the unversed, in the FRIENDS episode titled “The One With Russ”, Rachel after her falling out with Ross began seeing another mysterious new man named Russ as a bounce off. However, the new man looked, talked and behaved exactly like Ross, just with a bit more hair, which Rachel could not quite figure out at first. He is nothing but a hilarious doppelgänger of Ross Geller, both played by David Schwimmer, which the audiences understood but took long for Rachel to do so.
One can understand in this scenario, the comparison is being made not only because Maresca’s position based football philosophy where inverted full backs, intense Off-the-Ball Pressing tactics are much like that of Guardiola’s, thanks to him being heavily influenced during his time as Man City assistant in the 2022-23 treble winning campaign, but also because of the uncanny similarities in looks with the Spaniard as well.
Maresca comes with the same bald head, patchy beard and a cold dude look that characterizes Guardiola, even his height of 5ft 11inches is similar to that of the certain Catalunia native. So for many, at least visually, Maresca’s Man City appointment looks like an old candy wrapped in a new foil.
However, when Citizen’s new season kicks off come 23rd August against Bournemouth, the focus will solely be on Maresca’s performance as he looks to embark on a challenging journey of replacing Man City’s most successful boss who helped the club win 20 major trophies in his decade long tenure at the blue half of Manchester.
