Enzo Maresca: Leicester City appoint Manchester City assistant coach as boss

Leicester City have appointed Treble-winning Manchester City assistant coach Enzo Maresca as their manager on a deal which runs until 2026.

The 43-year-old Italian joins the Foxes just six days after Manchester City's Champions League final win.

He replaces interim boss Dean Smith, who oversaw just two victories from eight games in a failed attempt to keep the Foxes in the Premier League.

"We have a big season ahead of us," Maresca said following his appointment.

"At the beginning, the target is to play in the best way we can. From there, we can build, day by day, our idea and our philosophy, and the most important thing is to try to win games.

"First of all, we're going to give 100%, absolutely, because the club deserves this. It's our job, our duty to do that. Then, as I said, day by day, step by step, absolutely we're going to improve."

Leicester also confirmed the contract of Smith will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the month, with his assistant Craig Shakespeare and coach John Terry also leaving.

Maresca's move to the King Power Stadium brings an end to a hugely successful year as part of Pep Guardiola's backroom team in what was his second stint as a coach at Manchester City, having previously worked as their under-23s boss.

He had an unsuccessful 180-day spell as Parma manager in 2021, overseeing just four wins from 14 games after they were relegated from Serie A.

Leicester are back in the Championship for the first time in 10 years after a disastrous campaign that saw them finish 18th in the table, with just nine Premier League wins.

Relegation brought a miserable end to a decade of unparalleled success for the club, with Maresca to take training for the first time on 3 July.

After promotion as Championship title-winners in 2014, the Foxes went on to become unlikely Premier League champions two years later before then going on to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, win the FA Cup and reach the semi-finals of a European competition for the first time in 2022.

The Italian has had a long association with English football during what has been an eclectic playing and coaching career.

He was a teenage midfielder when he joined West Bromwich Albion, a stay that lasted less than two years before he went on to join Juventus.

A number of loan spells followed, before he moved to Spain to play for Sevilla, where he won five trophies - including the Uefa Cup twice.

His four successful seasons there is the longest he has remained at one club.

Maresca had spells at Olympiakos in Greece, a return to Spain with Malaga before going back to Italy where he eventually ended his playing career in Serie B with Hellas Verona in 2017.

His coaching career has been just as diverse, starting as assistant manager at Ascoli, before going back to Sevilla as a coach and then moving to England as West Ham assistant boss under Manuel Pellegrini.

His first experience as a first-team manager proved miserable, at Parma, but working with Guardiola he helped Manchester City to reach new heights with their Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League success.

Analysis - 'Appointment well-received by fans'

BBC East Midlands Today sports editor Natalie Jackson

The arrival of Enzo Maresca, less than a week after he helped Manchester City complete their Treble with a Champions League final victory against Inter Milan, has been well-received by many Foxes fans.

He is a novice manager but offers the club a fresh start. A man with new ideas, incredible contacts and a coach who is keen to develop young players and his own playing pedigree will help earn the respect of the dressing room.

In interview he was the one who impressed Leicester's hierarchy the most - with his philosophy and style of play right out of the Guardiola playbook - and his desire to take Leicester straight back to the Premier League, but while also re-building the club for the long term.

With many players out of contract he has to hit the ground running, but the club have appointed swiftly as a new era begins.