Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol:

“Maresca isn’t the Chelsea manager and he hasn’t been since the start of the year. 

“When he walked out of Chelsea, he still had three and a half years on his contract. Chelsea believed he was contacted about the City job in the Autumn of 2025 and that had a negative impact on their season and that is why Chelsea have been involved.

“The news has not been confirmed by Man City or Chelsea. We do expect Maresca to become the City manager pretty quickly.

“I think he is the outstanding candidate to take over from Pep Guardiola. He has worked at City before and was an assistant on his staff when they won the treble.

“It is a tough act to follow but I don’t think Enzo Maresca is going to achieve what Guardiola achieved but he has clear principles, which are alligned with how City want to operate and play. 

“It was a risk for Chelsea to appoint him. He had not managed in the Premier League and was with Leicester City. But his time at Chelsea was a success. He got them back into the Champions League, won the Conference League and the Club World Cup.

“But there were problems behind the scenes; he didn’t see eye to eye with the leadership team. Issues were bubbling away.”