Man City want former West Brom star as Pep Guardiola's new assistant

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Manchester City are lining up their former academy coach Enzo Maresca as Pep Guardiola’s new No.2.

Maresca, 42, is in the frame to replace the influential Juanma Lillo after the Spaniard took up an offer to manage Qatari club Al-Saad Sports Club during the week. He is a former Italy Under-21 international who started his career at West Brom in 1998 after a youth career with AC Milan and Cagliari.

Maresca guided City’s EDS squad to the first of back-to-back Premier League 2 titles in 2021. He left the Etihad last summer to become coach of Italian club Parma. Maresca was sacked after just five months in the job, but he is well regarded by City and is seen as an ideal successor to Lillo.

He played in Italy for Juventus, Bologna and Fiorentina and also had spells in Spain and Greece before embarking on a coaching career. Maresca worked at Sevilla, Escoli and West Ham before moving into City’s academy in 2020.

Meanwhile, the son of former City striker Uwe Rosler has revealed it was the "dream" of his friend Erling Haaland to play for City. Colin Rosler, who also played alongside Haaland for Norway's youth team having qualified through his mother, is now at Lillestrom and has opened up on the friendship between the two families.

Rosler jnr said: “When we first met, one of the first things we spoke about was City. We obviously both had that connection of our dads playing for the club, though a few years apart,