Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca has broken his silence on the wave of departures that has reshaped his squad since he replaced Pep Guardiola in the summer. He claimed that a lack of game time — rather than any deeper rift — is behind most of the exits.
Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders have all left the Etihad Stadium in recent months, while Savinho is closing in on a move to Tottenham Hotspur and Omar Marmoush continues to be linked with a switch away from City.
The exodus has raised questions about the mood inside Maresca’s dressing room as he tries to stamp his own identity on a squad built almost entirely under his predecessor.
‘They didn’t play a lot’ – Maresca says
Asked to explain the string of exits, Maresca pointed to minutes on the pitch as the common thread running through almost every case — with one notable exception.
“Aside from Rodri, they all have in common one thing: They didn’t play a lot,” Maresca said per City Xtra
“So at the end, we said many times, we just finished a session and they all work every day because at the end they want to play. And when they don’t play, probably they prefer to leave.
“The ones that you mentioned, aside from Rodri, the rest are all players that for different reasons didn’t play a lot.”
The comments suggest Maresca views the departures less as a rejection of his methods and more as a natural consequence of squad rotation at a club still packed with attacking and midfield options, even after this summer’s clear-out.
Savinho situation laid bare
Maresca went further when discussing the mindset of players who have made their intentions to leave known, admitting there is little a manager can do once a player has set his heart on a move — a dynamic he says has played out with both Rodri earlier in the year and now with Savinho.
“It’s quite clear when a player wants to leave, and then it’s difficult,” Maresca said. “For any reason that they want to leave, it’s complicated to convince them to stay or change their stance.
“It happened with Rodri, the same is happening with Savinho – since day one, he has been asking me he wants to leave. So now we are waiting.”
The admission that the Brazilian winger has been pushing for an exit “since day one” of Maresca’s tenure will do little to cool speculation over a switch to Tottenham, with the north London club understood to be closing in on a deal before the transfer window shuts.
Maresca added that motivations behind such moves vary from player to player, but that once a mind is made up, there is rarely much a coaching staff can do to change course.
“But it’s complicated when a player is thinking they need a new challenge or want to change because they want probably to go back to Spain or play more minutes. Different reasons, and then it becomes complicated to convince them to stay,” he said.
A summer of transition
The comments come during what has already been a landmark period of change at the Etihad. Maresca succeeded Guardiola after the Catalan ended a decade in charge, and has since had to navigate the departures of senior figures.
Rodri’s exit, in particular, marked the end of an era for City, with the Spain international having been central to the club’s success under Guardiola before completing a high-profile move away.
For Maresca, the message to his remaining squad appears clear: places are earned through performance, not reputation, and those unwilling to fight for minutes may find the door open.
Whether that approach eases the outward flow of talent from the Etihad, or simply accelerates it, is likely to become clearer as the transfer window draws to a close.
