- Rooney makes Man City prediction
- Lacks confidence in Enzo Maresca
- Explains effect on Premier League table
Wayne Rooney has had his say on Enzo Maresca’s potential Manchester City appointment, and it would appear he is not the Italian’s biggest fan.
Even though Man City have an important Premier League game tonight, all the talk is about Pep Guardiola and Enzo Maresca.
Guardiola’s likely exit was reported on Monday. There has been no official confirmation from the club, but it would appear his days at the Etihad are almost up.
City are moving quickly, with a deal agreed to appoint Maresca little more than four months after he departed Chelsea.
Wayne Rooney expects Man City to have less success without Pep Guardiola
Despite his unfortunate exit from the Blues, Maresca brought success to Stamford Bridge in the form of a Conference League and Club World Cup trophy.
Still, Man City supporters will be expecting far more than that, but Wayne Rooney is not confident the manager will be able to deliver.
"The Premier League next year will be wide open." 👀
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 19, 2026
Wayne Rooney on Pep Guardiola's potential exit from Man City 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Orn2Atwtmq
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, he said: “There’s no way they’ll be as successful. I think the issue Man City will have is obviously when you see how difficult it was to replace Alex Ferguson.
“How difficult it was, even Unai Emery went in at Arsenal and how difficult he found it to replace Arsene Wenger
“And I don’t think it’ll be replacing him. I think it’s the respect which he commands and the influence and the pull in signing players.
“And the talk is Maresca is going to go in and I just don’t think he’ll have the same impact from that point of view,” Rooney continued.
“I really do think it opens it up and the Premier League next season is going to be so exciting. You’re obviously going to have City with a new manager, Chelsea with a new manager. Man United, Liverpool potentially with a new manager.
“So the Premier League next year will be wide open to see who wins that title.”
Maresca did a good job at Chelsea
In Maresca’s defence, winning two pieces of silverware at Chelsea is a fairly decent achievement, considering the club’s failings in recent years.
Mauricio Pochettino struggled there, and Liam Rosenior’s spell was about as bad as it could possibly have been.
Maresca succeeded where others have failed, and while the Blues were in poor form when he resigned, he did a good job overall.
And before his time in London, Maresca won the Championship with Leicester City, a club who have since been relegated to League One.
Can Maresca take the step up to Man City?
Being the manager of Man City is a lot harder than Guardiola has made it look, but one big positive is having a squad of world class talents.
Maresca had a lot of money to play around with at Chelsea, but the club’s recruitment strategy has been appalling under Todd Boehly.
Whereas City have recently landed some very good signings who are good enough to deliver for any manager in the world.
So yes, this is a challenge Maresca can rise up to, even if it takes him a bit of time to bring success to Man City.
His record in management so far is not bad by any means, so backing him and having patience is the best thing to do.
It could be that things do not work out, but the club hierarchy made a decent choice with Guardiola. Now is the time to continue trusting in their judgement.
