When Chelsea and Enzo Maresca bitterly parted ways on New Year’s Day 2026, the club took a stinging public dig at their departing manager, blaming him for derailing their campaign while refusing to print his name in their official statement. Eight months later, the new Manchester City boss seems to be returning the same energy back.
In a couple of recent viral clips circulating on X, Maresca has simply been dismissive towards the time he spent with his former employers.
Instead of acknowledging his 18 months at Stamford Bridge, the Italian has repeatedly reduced his former club to nameless background noise, casually brushing them off as just another stop on his resume.
The SkySports snub.
The first sign of this deliberate omission came in an interview with Sky Sports, ahead of Man City’s game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. When asked about his surprising decision to play Marc Guehi as a midfielder in their opening game against Bournemouth, Maresca addressed his faith is Guehi’s abilities while deliberately taking a dig at Chelsea by stating them as “former club”
“This is a league where in my personal opinion you need strong midfielders to win. And I think Marc can do that. I knew Marc since he was here. When I was at my former club they knew how much I appreciated Marc, I could visualise that he can play as a midfielder.”
Referring to Chelsea strictly as his previous club set the tone, but it did not stop there.
🔵🎬 "When I was in my former club"
— Chels Zone (@TheChelsZoneX) August 28, 2026
Maresca strikes again, avoids mentioning Chelsea 😂😂
🎥 @SkySportsPL pic.twitter.com/96JEajbt8G https://t.co/DDc6R6axtp
Doubling down on Viaplay
Any thought that the press room comment was an accidental oversight vanished when Maresca appeared on Viaplay Premier Sunday. Standing pitchside after a match alongside regular pundit Peter Schmeichel and the main presenter, Maresca was asked to look back on his coaching journey and pick out his proudest moments.
Once again, he gladly celebrated his work alongside Guardiola during City’s 2022/23 treble winning season, but when asked about his time in London, he erased the club entirely.
“I am quite lucky. You look at the season I was here, then I left. Then I joined a different club. In the last 4 or 5 years, we won titles everywhere. It can be the same again here.”
By reducing a team where he won both the Conference League and the Club World Cup to simply “a different club,” Maresca made his stance crystal clear.
🔵🎬 Fair enough, we don't like each other now 😂
— Chels Zone (@TheChelsZoneX) August 27, 2026
🎥 @viaplay https://t.co/ho29LP09Zb pic.twitter.com/8BbdOAgX6O
The toxic January exit
To completely understand why Maresca is playing this game, you need the full factual story of his departure.
On January 1st, 2026, he abruptly walked out on Chelsea. He resigned unexpectedly in late December while the team was sitting 5th in the Premier League table. He was actively angling to succeed Pep Guardiola at Man City, which left the London club feeling completely betrayed.
When Chelsea finally addressed the situation, their official club communication was incredibly bitter. The club explicitly stated that a major contributing factor to their disappointing season was the disruption caused by changes to the Head Coach position over the Christmas period.
Chelsea FC appreciates the 2025/26 season was a hugely disappointing one for the Club and its supporters. A major contributing factor was the disruption caused as a result of changes that the Club was forced to make to the Head Coach position over the Christmas period. Due to recent developments, we consider that it is important to explain to our supporters what happened and why our former Head Coach left the Club on 1 January 2026.
They declared they felt let down because his head and heart were focused on another club. Most importantly, across the entire official statement, Chelsea refused to type his name a single time, exclusively referring to him as their former Head Coach. Now, the Italian manager is simply returning the exact same energy.
You can check the complete club statement here: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/club-statement-june-2026
The other side of the story
While the media loves the drama, a large section of the Chelsea fanbase is circulating an entirely different theory online. Sparked by prominent Chelsea fan accounts like GoldbergCFC, many supporters suspect this awkward wordplay is actually the result of a strict legal gag order rather than pure disrespect.
Whatever Chelsea put in that NDA must be fucking terrifying. https://t.co/GEYlsxTGNd
— Alex Goldberg (@GoldbergCFC) August 28, 2026
When Maresca abruptly walked out on January 1, the messy split involved a massive compensation package. Fans theorize his departure settlement included a strict non disclosure agreement. This would legally prevent him from publicly discussing the club or even referencing their name on camera.
Maresca might simply be calling them his previous club because his lawyers advised him to keep their actual name out of his mouth. Whether it is a petty grudge or a strict legal bind, the next clash between these two teams will be absolute box office.
