Leicester City coach gives big update on Enzo Maresca's future
Enzo Maresca’s Leicester City fitness coach has shot down speculation the Italian manager could leave the King Power Stadium for Sevilla.
Maresca’s future is one of the hot topics at City this summer after he aired his frustrations over aspects of the club’s organisation and with those close to him suggesting he would “consider his options” if changes weren’t made to the decision-making offices. Plus, Sevilla are set to appoint a new manager this summer and had Maresca, a two-time Uefa Cup winner with them, on their shortlist.
However, Marcos Alvarez, City’s first-team fitness coach who arrived with Maresca last year having worked with him at Parma, said his full focus is on City. He did not rule out Maresca joining Sevilla in the future, but it won’t be this summer.
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“We are focused on Leicester and right now there is no other option,” Alvarez told Canal Sur Radio in Spain. “He loves Sevilla, just like the Sevillistas love him because he has been very important in the history of the club. I imagine that their paths will cross (in the future).”
Alvarez first met Maresca at Sevilla, when the fitness coach was starting his career and the Italian was a player for the La Liga side. Even then, he had an inkling that Maresca would go on to be a manager.
“He is very methodical and organised,” Alvarez said. “I was pleasantly surprised, but it is true that when I had him as a player he was already restless in those aspects.
“There are players on the team who ask the coach why there are tactical situations, why this is done and nothing else is done. In all teams there are players who have the skills of coaches, and Enzo was like that.”
“The world of football has changed for years and now the coaches are very studious people. That was the first impression I had when I sat down with Enzo two-and-a-half years ago.
“He shows me what his football arguments are and I was very surprised how in his computer he had folders of 15 or 20 world-class coaches. They studied how (Jurgen) Klopp uses pressure, how (Thomas) Tuchel tries defensive plays, how Manuel Pellegrini, who has worked with him, likes to play a defensive line, and (Pep) Guardiola of course.”