Maresca Targets Malo Gusto in Manchester City Rebuild

Enzo Maresca has not even been unveiled at the Etihad yet, but the outline of his Manchester City rebuild is already taking shape – and it has a distinctly Chelsea flavour.

According to reports, the incoming City manager is pushing hard for a move for Malo Gusto, the French right-back he worked with at Stamford Bridge. Maresca is set to be confirmed as Pep Guardiola’s successor after City agreed compensation with Chelsea, and he wants trusted lieutenants around him as he walks into one of the most intimidating jobs in modern football.

Maresca’s plan to avoid the succession trap

Following Guardiola is a task that has swallowed managers at other giants. Manchester United never truly recovered from the handover from Sir Alex Ferguson to David Moyes. Arsenal staggered through the post-Arsene Wenger years as Unai Emery tried, and failed, to impose his own ideas quickly enough.

Maresca has studied those cautionary tales. He does not intend to arrive as a caretaker of someone else’s squad. He wants his fingerprints on this City side from day one.

That is why his early wish list leans heavily on players he already knows. Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez have both been linked, familiar faces from his Chelsea tenure who fit his possession-heavy blueprint. Yet reality bites: Palmer is considered “untouchable” by the Chelsea hierarchy, while Real Madrid are at the front of the queue for Fernandez, who is keen to move on.

So Maresca is looking elsewhere at Stamford Bridge. To Malo Gusto.

Gusto emerges as prime defensive target

City’s initial defensive focus had been on Inter Milan’s Marco Palestra, but that door has closed. Chelsea have agreed a £51m deal for the Italian, forcing the Premier League champions-in-waiting to redraw their shortlist.

Gusto now sits near the top of it. The 23-year-old, signed from Lyon in 2023 for £31m, has grown into a mainstay at Chelsea over the past three seasons, racking up 134 appearances and establishing himself as a modern, aggressive right-back comfortable on the ball and relentless without it.

Chelsea, preparing to welcome Palestra to west London, are not deaf to offers. Reports this week indicated they are not ruling out a summer sale for Gusto. The price, though, will be steep. The club are understood to want at least £40m to even consider parting with him, a fee that reflects both his age and his role in the current squad.

For Maresca, that money would buy more than a defender. It would buy familiarity on the training pitch and a player already versed in his demands.

World stage, rising stock

Gusto’s value is only heading one way. He is currently at the World Cup with a heavily fancied France squad and came off the bench in their 3-0 win over Iraq on Monday. Minutes on that stage tend to harden clubs’ resolve, not soften it.

Yet Chelsea find themselves in a delicate balancing act. Palestra’s arrival adds congestion at the back. Squad trimming is inevitable. If a serious bid lands for Gusto, the conversation in the boardroom changes quickly.

City know that dynamic well. They have exploited it before.

Midfield still the headline priority

Even with Gusto on the radar, City’s main summer mission lies in midfield. The club are locked onto England World Cup standout Elliot Anderson as their top target and are weighing up a third offer after Nottingham Forest rejected a second bid worth £120m.

The message from the Etihad is clear: Maresca will not be inheriting a static squad. The core that dominated English football under Guardiola remains, but the new man will be backed to reshape key areas.

Last season brought a domestic cup double, yet no Premier League title. Arsenal finished seven points clear, ending City’s grip on the trophy and underlining that even Guardiola’s machine can stall.

Maresca steps into that context – a dynasty still powerful, but no longer untouchable.

A new era, familiar faces?

The Italian’s time at Chelsea ended abruptly in January, less than six months after he lifted the Club World Cup at the end of his first season. Now he walks into a club used to winning, used to control, used to Guardiola.

To bridge that gap between eras, he wants players who already trust his methods. Palmer looks off limits. Fernandez is drifting towards Madrid. So attention swings to Malo Gusto, a World Cup defender, a proven Premier League performer, and a full-back who knows exactly what Maresca demands.

If City pay the price and Chelsea blink, the first major signing of the Maresca era could be a blue already used to London – about to find out what it means to live under Manchester’s harsher, title-chasing light.