Celtic are monitoring Manchester City’s assistant manager Enzo Maresca as a potential replacement for Ange Postecoglou should he leave the Scottish Premiership, according to reports in the last 48 hours.
Who is Enzo Maresca?
Maresca is an Italian former professional midfielder turned coach who joined the Sky Blues last summer to become Pep Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad Stadium, but he’s already got experience under his belt prior to linking up with the Premier League champions.
At the beginning of his career, the 43-year-old started out as assistant boss at Ascoli, Sevilla and West Ham United before going on to take the roles of City’s U23s main manager followed by Parma, as per Transfermarkt, and in the past few days, he’s rejected the chance to join Southampton having been approached over their vacancy.
Postecoglou is one of the names to have been heavily linked with the role at Tottenham Hotspur, and whilst he’s publicly reaffirmed his commitment during an interview with Sky Sports, the hierarchy are still sounding out possible successors should he be tempted to embark on a new challenge.
Are Celtic appointing Maresca?
According to Football Insider, Celtic are “keeping tabs” on Maresca in case of the event that Ange is “lured away” by the opportunity in N17. The Hoops “fear” that the Australian could leave at the end of the season and are therefore “assessing the market” to see who’s available.
Man City’s coach is one of those “well-regarded” behind the scenes at Parkhead, especially because recruitment chief Mark Lawwell came from the Etihad so will already know his managerial target, and it’s stated that the club are “aware” of the qualities that he possesses.
Pep Guardiola previously claimed that Maresca, who was wanted in Glasgow prior to Postecoglou's arrival, will go on to become an “extraordinary” manager, and one day that might well be the case, but at this stage, he’s not a candidate that Celtic should be pursuing if Postecoglou was to move onto new pastures.
The Pontecagnano Faiano native, whose preferred formation is a 3-4-1-2, was sacked after just 14 games at Parma, winning four, drawing five and losing five during his reign at the Ennio Tardini Stadium, averaging 1.21 points per match and taking 17 points out of a possible 42, via Transfermarkt.
Furthermore, Maresca’s only silverware that he’s ever won is this year’s top-flight title, so he doesn’t have any trophies off the back of his own work at the helm, making him way too much of a downgrade on the 57-year-old that’s already in the dugout in Glasgow.
