Enzo Maresca is a hot coaching property at the moment, and it looks as if he could well be Chelsea’s next manager in the next few days, having guided Leicester City to the Championship title in the season just finished.
Maresca learnt his coaching trade under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and presumably Chelsea see him as the next Mikel Arteta as they look to finally bring some stability back to Stamford Bridge.
Go back 25 years and the young Maresca was making waves in England as a player. Already captain of Italy’s Under 18s, he had traded life at Cagliari for the chance to make his way at West Bromwich Albion, a reminder that even struggling second tier clubs in England, as Albion were at the time, still had the financial muscle to offer wages in excess of many Italian sides.
For his part, Maresca’s motivation in coming to England was simple, as he told FourFourTwo back in June 1999. “I’ve grown up wanting to play like David Beckham. Watching him and Manchester United made me want to come to England.
He wasn’t at The Hawthorns long, moving to Juventus for £4.5million in January 2000, but clearly England continues to hold a special fascination for him.
You can read all about Enzo’s early days in England here.
