Maresca Prepares for First Trophy Amid Transfer Speculation
Enzo Maresca is braced for a frantic finish to the transfer window – but Manchester City will not be dancing to Chelsea’s tune over Enzo Fernández.
Chelsea set a 5pm Friday deadline for clubs to meet their £120m valuation of the Argentina midfielder. City admire Fernández, and Maresca knows him well from their time together at Stamford Bridge, but that cut-off has come and gone without a deal.
“Not today to be honest, I don’t think we’re going to do something today,” Maresca said when asked about business before Chelsea’s deadline. His gaze is fixed elsewhere.
On Sunday, in Cardiff, he walks out for his first major game in charge: the Community Shield against Arsenal. A first final. A first shot at silverware. And yet his squad is still very much in flux.
“It’s 48 hours for the final, my first final in this club, I would like to win my first trophy, so my focus isn’t on players that can leave or players that can arrive, my focus is on the game.”
Transfers swirl as Maresca chases first trophy
City are closing in on Ayyoub Bouaddi, the highly rated 18-year-old from Lille, as they look to refresh a group that has just come out of the Pep Guardiola era. That deal is expected to move, even as the Fernández pursuit cools under Chelsea’s rigid terms.
Maresca knows more changes are coming but refuses to put a number on them.
“For sure there are things we need to do, how many I don’t know, can be one can be two depends also if players want to leave so we can see,” he said, hinting at an endgame shaped as much by departures as arrivals.
One of the biggest questions hangs over Rodri. Barcelona have already seen two bids rejected for the midfielder, who has just a year left on his contract. A third offer is expected, and the saga is building around City’s training ground.
Rodri only returned on Friday, fresh from a summer break after lifting the World Cup. Maresca greeted him, but stopped well short of making promises.
“The transfer window is open, we can buy players, we can sell players, anything can happen. I just saw Rodri now in the building, I gave him a big hug, he looks good, so we’ll see what happens.”
Reijnders heading out as others wait
While Rodri’s future hangs in the air, Tijjani Reijnders’ path is far clearer. City have agreed a £51m fee with Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League, and the Dutch midfielder is poised to leave after just one season at the club.
Reijnders arrived from Milan last summer but has pushed for more regular football than he found under Guardiola. Maresca understands that itch.
“They all work every day, they all do sessions every day and at the end of the week they all want to play a game,” he said. “When they don’t play, they struggle to understand or they struggle to see the reason why and I can understand that after one season some of them would like to play a little bit more. It’s a normal situation.”
James Trafford has already gone, sold to Leeds. Omar Marmoush, Rico Lewis and Savinho, all peripheral figures in Guardiola’s final campaign, could follow him out of the door if the right offers land.
So Maresca steps into his first final with a squad that feels half-built and half-braced for change. The trophy is in front of him, the market is raging behind him. Which will define City’s season more – the deals they make now, or the statement they send in Cardiff?
