Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on Friday dismissed reports linking him with the top job at Manchester City, insisting that speculation over his future does not affect him at all as he remains fully committed to the London club.
Maresca, who previously worked as an assistant coach at City, joined Chelsea in 2024 and led the Premier League to the Europa Conference League title at the end of his first season, followed by the Club World Cup in July.
A report in The Athletics said this week that the 45-year-old Italian is among the top candidates to replace Pep Guardiola at City when the Spanish manager ends his trophy-laden spell at the Etihad Stadium.
Asked about the links, Maresca told reporters: “It doesn’t affect me at all because I know it’s 100 percent speculation.
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“At the moment there is no time for this kind of thing, primarily because I have a contract here until 2029,” he added ahead of a Premier League trip to Newcastle United.
«I have often said: my focus is only on this club and I am very proud to be here. It is speculation. A week ago it was the same in Italy with Juventus.»
«I don’t pay attention to it because I know it’s not true. Now it’s important to understand the reason why this news happened. But it’s not my job – I don’t care at all.»
Maresca added that he still had a lot to achieve at Chelsea, who reached the semi-finals of the League Cup with a 3-1 win over Cardiff City on Tuesday.
“We recently reached our third semi-final in 18 months,” he said.
«Last year was good in terms of trophies and fourth place in the Premier League. The aim is to try and improve on what we did last season.»
Chelsea, which is fourth with 28 points from sixteen games, travels to twelfth-placed Newcastle on Saturday, where Maresca can soon call on Liam Delap again after the attacker’s recovery from a shoulder injury.
«We are good. The ones we left out for Cardiff are okay,» Maresca said.
“Liam Delap and Dario Essugo are probably available for Aston Villa (on December 27) and Romeo Lavia is not there yet, Levi Colwill is not there yet.
“We said since his (Delap’s) injury we didn’t know exactly for how long, but he’s making good progress.”
Published on December 19, 2025
