It must rank as one of the hardest jobs in football.Succeeding Pep Guardiola, arguably the greatest coach of his era, at Manchester City will be an onerous — perhaps impossible — task, but Enzo Maresca seems certain to accept it.We asked seven writers at The Athletic to debate whether it would be the right move for City and Maresca.Oliver KayEnzo Maresca would be, without question, a gamble on Manchester City’s part. An educated gamble — given the identity and track record of those making the decision — but a gamble nonetheless.It was also a gamble when Chelsea appointed him in the summer of 2024 when he had been a head coach for just 18 months, with Parma in Italy’s second tier and Leicester City in England’s second tier. Did it pay off? To an extent, yes — he was certainly more successful than the club’s other coaching appointments under BlueCo’s ownership — but he only won 28 Premier League matches out of 57 (and only eight of 19 in season two). Even taking Chelsea’s dysfunction into account, it was a steady record rather than a spectacular one.If I were a City supporter, or indeed a City player, I would be concerned that any coach would be a downgrade on Pep Guardiola. Maresca might have some of the same ideas and coaching principles, but does he have the same energy, the same charisma, the same knowledge? Watching him at Chelsea, I never thought so. He struck me as a very good coach who was still finding his way. The guy he will be taking over from is a once-in-a-generation type.Adam CraftonIt’s a tricky one to predict, given how unique the jobs are that Enzo Maresca previously took.At both Leicester and Chelsea, he achieved trophy-winning success, but he also endured periods in each role which called into question his tactics (particularly keeping possession for possession’s sake at times), as well as his ability to manage both up to the boardroom and the dressing room.However, it is notable to me that Leicester’s players appeared to sincerely miss him when he left upon promotion and a handful of Chelsea’s players also appear to have been grieving his exit in the second half of this season. I did see his best Chelsea performance, the demolition of PSG in the Club World Cup final, but performances such as these were a one-off rather than consistent.Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea demolished PSG in the Club World Cup final (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)While I understand the sense of continuity (Maresca’s preferred playing style is similar to Guardiola’s and he has been in the City system), I also wonder how City’s players may respond to a coach who could easily be perceived as Pep-Lite. It’s also worth remembering that Guardiola’s own style has become more direct over the past 18 months, and Maresca may need to undergo his own evolution to maximise the talent pool now on City’s books.Dan SheldonThe new sporting understatement of the year is that replacing Pep Guardiola is going to be an incredibly tall order, maybe even impossible.He is undeniably the best manager of his generation and will leave a void that is going to be incredibly difficult for Manchester City to fill, no matter their faith in Enzo Maresca.There is every chance I may look daft come May 2027, but it is difficult to get excited about the anticipated appointment.Yes, Guardiola is leaving a squad packed full of talent that has age on its side, yet I have a nagging feeling that Maresca is not the right coach to take City forward.Even though Leicester City topped the Championship under Maresca in 2023-24, they limped over the line and you wouldn’t have found many supporters distraught over his exit a few weeks later.A Club World Cup success and messy exit later, the jury — in my view — remains out on just how good Maresca is. There is no doubt that City have done their due diligence and given this a lot of thought — plus, are any elite managers actually available? — but I am not optimistic that it is going to work.Cue me looking rather silly at the end of next season.Rob TannerThere is a sense of fate dictating that Enzo Maresca succeed Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.Maresca worked as the under-21s coach at City under Guardiola and the two bonded over a shared vision of how the game should be played. Maresca then moved to Leicester City to realise his vision on a team that had just been relegated to the Championship.There were doubts whether it would work and whether the possession-based style would suit the players he had inherited. He was questioned at times by the fans, despite consistently getting results, but he was steadfast in his commitment and unwavering in his belief in his plan.The players loved it. They enjoyed the structure he gave them, the fact everything was based around possession rather than running. Above all, they enjoyed winning again.When he left for Chelsea after winning the Championship, Leicester’s decline gathered pace.Maresca celebrates winning the Championship with Leicester (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)It is never easy to follow in the footsteps of a club’s greatest manager, but Maresca will not be daunted by the prospect. His self belief is iron-clad. He doesn’t like to be dictated to by senior management on football matters and he is not a corporate yes man, but City will know the character they are bringing in.He can be sensitive to media criticism at times so will have to toughen his skin, but the appointment of Maresca does make sense as it should be a less daunting transition from Guardiola than would otherwise be the case with another manager.Greg O’KeeffeIt will be interesting to see whether Enzo Maresca has reflected on why it did not work out for him at Chelsea.Because as much as there was sympathy for him over the circumstances he had to operate under — with suggestions of pressure over his selections, constant scrutiny from exec level and clashes with the medical department — there’s also a feeling he didn’t help himself.Did he really need his ego buffered by public backing from the owners? Why did he talk to City about replacing Guardiola while already in a job? Could he have handled the media better?The answer to all these questions, and the extent to which he has learned and grown, will influence his ability to thrive in an even more challenging role: filling the biggest shoes in club football.It will be hard to know whether the Italian is the right man to replace the irreplaceable until at least May 2027, but Maresca clearly ticks many boxes for those charged with planning for City’s next epoch, and his ability to unite a group of players and win trophies is proven (to an extent).There may well be bigger names to which City could turn but Maresca’s time at the Etihad, his ‘feel’ for the club from that previous spell as a first-team coach and perhaps Guardiola’s blessing, is a significant step towards hopes of a smooth transition.Cerys JonesSometimes the best solution is the most obvious one. The most important criteria for succeeding Manchester City’s most successful manager is being able to emulate him as closely as possible. Maresca, who is a student of Guardiola’s style of play and worked under him at the Etihad during their treble-winning season, clearly fits that bill. City’s hierarchy know exactly who they are getting.The fact that they are physically similar and share a tactical profile does not make it a like-for-like swap. Guardiola earned his stature through his playing career, and the fact he successfully implemented his methods at Barcelona and Bayern Munich before City. Maresca’s promotion with Leicester and the Club World Cup and Conference League wins with Chelsea will not command quite the same respect. However, it has become clear that his relative lack of experience did not stop him winning over Chelsea’s dressing room. City’s, which is generally more stable in any case, ought to be an easier task — and a character reference from their former boss ought to help bring the players on board.A fundamental difference from his Chelsea days will be that Maresca will not be able to defend any missteps by pointing to what he deems faulty recommendations from others at the club, or the machinery around him not being up to scratch. If he cannot guide a group of players that is a well-oiled winning machine, primed to his football ideas, to trophies, it is hard for the blame to fall anywhere but on him.Seb Stafford-BloorI don’t envy him. To succeed Pep Guardiola is to be compared with him in every way and it’s difficult to see how Enzo Maresca will ever be flattered by that.There are many conclusions to draw from Guardiola’s decade at City, but among them is that he normalised success and made it routine and long ago set that as the club’s standard. Arguably, that makes the City job — on a performance evaluation basis at least — harder than any other in Europe today.Judging Maresca’s coaching credentials is also difficult, because Chelsea was a curious context within which it was never clear who was responsible for what. In fact, one of the arguments that led to his downfall seemed to be regarding how credit was apportioned for the Club World Cup success last summer. On the one hand, Maresca wrangled talent effectively under difficult circumstances. On the other, he was politically clumsy towards the end and allowed his own capital to dissipate remarkably quickly.Can anyone confidently predict what will happen next?