Chelsea’s first clash with Manchester City in the post-Pep Guardiola era, slated in the Premier League fixture list for December 12, promises to be spicy.The mere sight of Enzo Maresca in City colours will be triggering for some at his former club. Chelsea have moved on by appointing Xabi Alonso as manager, but the memory — not to mention the consequences, both sporting and financial — of a disastrous 2025-26 season will linger for some time, and the Italian’s acrimonious departure at the turn of the year is widely pinpointed as the start of the grand unravelling.Note the fact that in their statement, timed to coincide with City’s announcement of Maresca’s arrival on Monday, Chelsea do not once refer to the Italian by name. “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 said.“In autumn last year, the club was informed by our former head coach that there might be an opportunity for him to succeed Pep Guardiola at the end of the season. It became clear to us that it was his strong desire to succeed Guardiola and that he was fully committed to pursuing the opportunity, despite the fact he was under a long-term contract which he had no right to terminate.“In December 2025, our head coach unexpectedly and abruptly resigned from his position. Obviously, we felt let down as we believed that his head and heart were focused on another club and another opportunity, despite having just arrived at Chelsea the year before.“No club wants to change its head coach midway through a season. However, in light of his decision not to continue fulfilling his responsibilities through to the end of the season, the club was left with no choice but to protect our players, our supporters, and the badge and accept his resignation.”Chelsea had won just one of their previous seven Premier League games when Maresca’s exit was announced on New Year’s Day, less than 48 hours after he had ducked his media duties following a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge. Yet they were still fifth in the table, only three points behind fourth-placed Liverpool. There was concern at the trajectory of results and performances, but no appetite to immediately part with a head coach who had masterminded a Club World Cup final upset victory over Paris Saint-Germain six months earlier.Maresca drove the timing of the divorce. By then, as The Athletic reported in January, he had already informed Chelsea twice in late October and again in mid-December that he was talking to people associated with City about his candidacy for the managerial position if and when a future vacancy arose, as he was contractually obliged to do.Chelsea sources say that in an attempt to manage a situation that was becoming untenable, the London club granted Maresca permission to talk to City about succeeding Guardiola at the end of the season. But he remained on a long-term contract, and the strength of their position has been underlined by the fact City are understood to have agreed to pay £17million ($22.5m) in compensation. Maresca has also agreed to pay an undisclosed amount, and apologised in a statement posted on his Instagram account for the “disruption” his mid-season exit caused at Stamford Bridge.“At the end of December 2025, I made the difficult decision to leave Chelsea,” he said. “The decision was only mine. My resignation from Chelsea opened a path for me to join Manchester City, which is a club I knew very well. I am ecstatic that I have now joined Manchester City. I recognise that my departure from Chelsea in the middle of the season caused disruption for the club and I apologise for that. It was neither my intention nor my wish. I was treated well by everyone at Chelsea and together we achieved great success and memories that I will always treasure.