Maresca x Balague: The Leicester City Manager's Football Journey

With a new season looming, and the Foxes now in the Sky Bet Championship, Maresca is the man the Club have turned to.

Leicester City's ambitions are naturally locked on a Premier League return, but Maresca is determined to bring a new style of play to Filbert Way as well. The former Parma manager and Manchester City assistant spoke in depth about his first weeks in Leicestershire, the importance of players adapting to his ideas, and the very inception of his football ethos. 

Speaking to Balague, a renowned Spanish journalist and best-selling author, Maresca also explained what it felt like to play against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team in their prime.

"It all started 15 years ago I think," Maresca said, explaining the formation of his football philosophy. "I was still a player and I faced Pep’s Barcelona with Sevilla and then with Malaga. Facing them, I realised that something different had happened.

"I fell in love immediately with that idea. That was 2007 or 2008. I started to analyse the game and tried to understand that team. Then Pep brought his idea to Germany and now England. It all started from that time when I was still a player. I realised it was not the same things happening. It was completely different. I didn’t play under Pep, but I faced him many times.

"On one side, it was good, it was nice. It was completely different, something new. I’m curious so I wanted to know about it. For the other side, it was bad because we were just running behind the ball.

"When we recovered the ball, we immediately lost it again. They recovered it immediately. I fell in love with that idea while facing it. That was the day I started to think about trying to understand it all. I wanted to analyse it.

"From there, it’s step by step. I started to think as a manager."

Maresca also explained how important it is that players back his methods. With patience and hard work, he is convinced that Leicester City will be playing an attractive and winning brand of football.

"Most of the things you want to try are new for the players," he added. "Even now and in the past, when you try to do something, sometimes the players, they say: 'Gaffer, nobody told me about this in the past'.

"It's something new for them, even when they're 25, 28, or 32. You need to start a new concept, a new idea for them. In 10 or 15 years, nobody told them it before. Unfortunately for a manager, it requires time, but it's worth it.

"If at the end, you realise that idea, it's something fantastic. Since I joined the Club and met the owner and the director of football, since I met the people in general, they have never said: 'This year we have to get promoted'.

"I'm ambitious, they're ambitious. We all want the same target, but they know it's a new journey."

This is just a snippet of Enzo Maresca's conversation with Guillem Balagué. To watch the feature in full, sign up now as a Digital Member and watch the full video on Foxes Hub.