Leicester City are closing in on the announcement of Manchester City’s Enzo Maresca as their new head coach, as the club prepares for the Championship.
Maresca is the No.1 transfer target at the King Power Stadium after being raised in talks with Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and Jon Rudkin, director of football.
As one of Pep Guardiola’s first team coaches at this season’s treble winners, Maresca is highly regarded by the club and will be cleared to take over as Leicester’s new manager.
Leicester were relegated from the Premier League last month and have interviewed a number of other candidates, including Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker.
But it is understood that Maresca did a separate interview in which he explained his philosophy and vision for the future of Leicester. Telegraph Sport first revealed he was a top contender on 5 June.
It is understood that Leicester have sought the opinion of Esteban Cambiasso, their former player who is close to the club’s hierarchy.
Maresca has been touted at City as the next member of Guardiola’s backroom staff who could become No.1 following Mikel Arteta’s move to Arsenal. Southampton wanted the former midfielder earlier this year, but he was determined to finish the season with City.
The 43-year-old has previous experience of managing in Italy with Parma, but was sacked after just 14 games in charge.
Maresca will be in charge of a club in transition, with the team looking for a major overhaul this summer following relegation.
James Maddison and Harvey Barnes are targets for Premier League clubs while Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ayoze Perez and Ryan Bertrand have left as free agents.
The futures of Wilfred Ndidi and Timothy Castagne are also uncertain with just over a year remaining on their current contracts.
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