Many former West Ham United assistants have been linked with big jobs recently. Johnny Heitinga was linked with Tottenham Hotspur. So too was Edin Terzic, but now another one has been mentioned as a contender for a much bigger job.
During Manuel Pellegrini's reign at West Ham, one of his assistants was Enzo Maresca. Pellegrini was Maresca's manager at Malaga, and Maresca has referred to the Chilean as his "football dad."
When Pellegrini lost his job at West Ham in 2019, Maresca also departed. His next job was with Manchester City as their Under-23s boss. He then had a brief tenure as Parma's manager before returning to City as Pep Guardiola's assistant.
Maresca was then ready to be a number one again and took over at Leicester City. He won the Championship with the Foxes, but then left to take over at Chelsea. His success with the Blues included winning the Club World Cup and the Europa Conference League.
West Ham played a part in Enzo Maresca's development
Despite lifting these trophies, Maresca left the club after a breakdown with the club's hierarchy. The writing was on the wall when he spoke out about a lack of support he felt at the club. Liam Rosenior replaced Maresca at the start of this year.
Maresca has only briefly been out of work, and his reputation remains high. This has led to him being linked with another return to City. Fabrizio Romano posted on X: "No talks between Tottenham and Enzo Maresca so far despite recent links. Understand Maresca remains the clear leading candidate to be next Manchester City head coach… when/if Pep Guardiola decides to leave."
There is growing concern at City that this will be Guardiola's final season at the club. It would be somewhat of a continuity option to have one of his former assistants replace him. Maresca proved at Chelsea that he is a winner, so it could be a shrewd appointment.