Enzo Maresca Targets Malo Gusto as Manchester City Manager

Enzo Maresca is wasting no time.

Barely a deal away from being confirmed as Manchester City’s new manager, the Italian is already pushing the club to move for Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto, according to reports, as he starts to shape a squad in his own image for life after Pep Guardiola.

Maresca’s Guardiola-sized challenge

City have reached an agreement on compensation with Chelsea, clearing the way for Maresca to walk into one of the most demanding jobs in modern football. He left Stamford Bridge in January, less than six months after delivering the Club World Cup in his first season, and now steps into the space vacated by a man who turned City into the dominant force in England.

The warning signs from elsewhere are clear. Manchester United never truly recovered from the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era, with David Moyes lasting less than a season. Unai Emery found Arsenal a brutal place to be in the immediate aftermath of Arsene Wenger. Maresca has seen how following a legend can swallow managers whole.

So he wants allies. Players who understand his demands, his patterns, his tempo.

Palmer and Fernandez blocked – Gusto opens the door

Maresca has already been linked with raids on his former club for Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez. Both would fit naturally into a Guardiola-influenced system: Palmer as a drifting creator between the lines, Fernandez as a deep-lying controller.

Chelsea, though, have drawn a hard line. The board consider Palmer “untouchable” after his breakout season, while Real Madrid are leading the chase for Fernandez, who is understood to be keen on a move away.

That leaves another route back to a familiar face.

Maresca, according to talkSPORT, has turned his attention to Malo Gusto, the 23-year-old French right-back he worked with at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are not closing the door. Earlier this week it emerged they would not rule out a summer sale, and with a new defender on the way, the equation has changed.

City turn from Palestra to Gusto

City’s defensive shortlist had originally featured Inter Milan’s Marco Palestra, but that race is effectively run. Chelsea have agreed a £51m deal for the Italian, forcing City to look elsewhere on the market.

Gusto has quickly moved near the top of that list. Chelsea are understood to want at least £40m for the defender as they prepare to welcome Palestra to west London, a fee that sits comfortably in City’s usual bracket for a player entering his prime years.

The Frenchman only arrived at Stamford Bridge from Lyon in 2023 for around £31m, yet he has already become a fixture. Over the past three seasons he has racked up 134 appearances, an impressive total for a player still only 23, and his blend of energy, recovery pace and attacking thrust fits the modern full-back blueprint.

He is not just a club player now, either. Gusto is at the World Cup with a heavily backed France squad and came off the bench in Monday’s 3-0 win over Iraq, another sign of his rise through the ranks.

Midfield remains City’s main battlefield

Gusto is not the only name on the City recruitment board. The club’s primary focus this summer is still a new midfielder, with England World Cup standout Elliot Anderson identified as their top target.

City have already seen one huge bid knocked back. Nottingham Forest rejected their second offer worth £120m, and the champions-in-waiting are weighing up a third attempt to prise him away. It is a chase that underlines the scale of the rebuild Maresca is prepared to undertake.

He inherits a side that lifted a domestic cup double last season and yet still finished seven points behind new Premier League champions Arsenal. Under Guardiola, City set standards that made second place feel like failure. Maresca’s task is to refresh that squad without losing the edge that built an era.

Bringing in a trusted right-back like Gusto would be one step in that direction. The question now is simple: will Chelsea, having beaten City to Palestra, really hand their former coach a key piece of his new project?