Pep leaves City: 10 years, 20 titles and the question nobody wants to answer

There are managers who win trophies. And there are managers who change a club's history. Pep Guardiola did both at Manchester City over 10 seasons that Manchester will never forget.

The numbers are brutal: 20 official titles, including 6 Premier Leagues, 1 Champions League, 3 FA Cups and 5 Carabao Cups. But numbers don't tell the whole story. Guardiola arrived at a club that was already wealthy and turned it into a football academy. Haaland scoring 50 goals in a season. De Bruyne redefining the playmaker role. A 6-3 demolition of United that will live in the collective memory forever.

And now what? Enzo Maresca, confirmed by Fabrizio Romano with total verbal agreement and a three-year contract. The 46-year-old Italian knows the club inside out: he was Guardiola's assistant during the treble season (2022/23) and then managed Leicester City. Last season he coached Chelsea, with whom he won the Club World Cup. He's no unknown quantity. He's someone who learned from Guardiola and has his own footballing philosophy.

Maresca's challenge is to inherit an institution without the man who built it. It's like being the director who replaces Spielberg in the middle of a franchise. The material is good. The pressure, enormous.

And Pep? The options being floated are a national team job—Italy sounds strong, given they failed to qualify for the World Cup—or a year's sabbatical. With Guardiola, you never know. And that, in itself, is already a spectacle worth following.

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