Guardiola and Maresca in secret Etihad meeting as City map out life after former boss

• Outgoing and incoming managers pool knowledge on current squad before summer rebuild
• Sporting director Viana already lining up three transfer targets worth up to £200m

Manchester City‘s transition from Pep Guardiola to Enzo Maresca is moving faster behind the scenes than many supporters realise, with the two men understood to have held private discussions about the make-up of next season’s squad.

According to reports, Guardiola and Maresca have made direct contact over the first-team personnel at the Etihad Stadium, a conversation described as part of a highly deliberate effort to protect the tactical identity that has defined City’s remarkable decade of dominance.

It is understood Maresca is drawing on Guardiola’s intimate knowledge of the existing squad to work out quickly which players are best suited to carrying his own methods forward.

The timing is no accident. Guardiola’s departure brings the curtain down on ten trophy-laden years in Manchester, a reign that closed with a domestic cup double before the Premier League title ultimately slipped to Arsenal.

Rather than allow any drift during the handover, the club appear to have activated a succession plan that had been quietly assembled long before Guardiola’s exit was confirmed.

Hugo Viana driving the rebuild

At the centre of that plan is sporting director Hugo Viana, who is working closely with Maresca to smooth the transition between managers.

Sources suggest the pair have been in dialogue for some time, with Maresca already ‘collaborating closely’ with Viana on pre-season planning, the new campaign and City’s longer-term direction as he prepares to take charge.

That collaboration has reportedly translated into concrete transfer planning. City are said to be ready to spend big this summer, with figures of up to £200 million mentioned.

The club look to avoid the kind of post-legend slump Manchester United suffered when David Moyes replaced Sir Alex Ferguson.

It is a comparison City will be desperate to avoid, given how costly United’s stumble proved to be.

Viana’s stock inside the game continues to rise. Since arriving from Sporting Lisbon last summer to succeed Txiki Begiristain, he has impressed figures across world football and built a reputation as one of the most respected operators in his role.

Notably, he had already begun sketching out a succession blueprint for the post-Maresca era too, alongside a shortlist of targets earmarked specifically for the incoming head coach.

The names of football superstars on City’s radar

Two names have already emerged as parts of that shortlist. Brentford full-back Michael Kayode, who turns 22 this summer, has been linked with interest from Juventus but has publicly ruled out an immediate return to Italian football.

Kayode arrived in England last year from Fiorentina following a productive loan spell and has since established himself as one of the Premier League’s more promising young defenders.

Further up the pitch, Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi has caught City’s eye as a long-term forward option.

The Frenchman has already left his mark on this title race — it was his goal that effectively ended City’s hopes of the championship in a 1-1 draw but a move is unlikely to be straightforward.

Bournemouth are not expected to sanction a sale until at least next summer as they prepare for a first-ever European campaign [SPORTbible] under incoming head coach Marco Rose, who replaces the departing Andoni Iraola.

Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson has also been floated as a priority target as City look to freshen up the middle of the park heading into the Maresca era.

City target a carefully managed handover

None of this has been rushed. City are understood to have been preparing for life after Guardiola for a considerable period, with the summer’s transfer strategy no exception.

Maresca, for his part, has already agreed personal terms on a three-year deal, and is expected to bring elements of his own backroom staff with him, including former City goalkeeper Willy Caballero in a coaching capacity.

For a club that has become accustomed to success under one of the greatest managers of all time, the challenge now is continuity without imitation — building a squad capable of executing Maresca’s own ideas while retaining the standards Guardiola leaves behind.

The private conversations already under way suggest City are determined to get the balance right before a ball is even kicked in pre-season.