Maresca recently guided Leicester City to the second-tier Championship title as they were promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
He arrived at Leicester less than a year ago and it was just his second job in first-team management after a poor stint with Parma in Italy’s second-tier Serie B.
The 44-year-old Italian took charge of Parma in May 2021 but would only last until November after failing to lead Parma into the Serie A promotion spots.
He had an impressive team which included the likes of Gianluigi Buffon and Franco Vazquez, so why did it not work out for Maresca at Parma? Metro.co.uk takes a look…
Why did Parma sack Enzo Maresca?
In his own words, Enzo Maresca said: ‘Managing in Italian football is difficult. But I am sure of one thing, I will be back as a manager one day. My family and I loved Parma. My daughter Maia was even born there. I will carry it forever in my heart.
‘I regard my experience as Parma manager as a positive one. By nature, I am a positive person and I take the good out of all my experiences. But I have one regret. I was only starting my managerial adventure when it was ended.
‘We were on the right track, the problem was that we had to try and construct a new team and that takes time. We needed to have the patience and strength to believe in something and over time I am certain we would have succeeded.
Why did Parma appoint Enzo Maresca?
Parma decided to hand Enzo Maresca his first job in first-team management three years ago, following his impressive work at Manchester City in which he guided their Elite Development Squad to the Premier League 2 title.
But it ended in disaster with Maresca taking charge of just 14 games, winning four, before he was sacked after six months in the job.
‘We were looking for a coach with certain qualities, and he reflects them all,’ Parma president Kyle Krause said when Maresca was appointed.
‘Both from a technical point of view, and for his style of play, and for his great desire to emerge. I asked him to be himself, faithful to his principles.
‘We have great faith in him, in his staff, and in his game ideas. And then naturally I asked him to take us to Serie A.’
‘We were at 17 points after 13 matches – three points from eighth place and with a completely new team. But listen in football, we all make mistakes and so did I. Parma gave me a three-year contract. And when you accept a multi-year contract it’s because there’s a project idea behind it.
‘In those three years, the target was we had to reach Serie A. Nobody ever told me that we should have gone to Serie A in the first season, especially as there were about 15 players arriving at the club.
‘But I repeat, we were definitely on the right track. I can’t say why I was fired. Perhaps they thought with the squad we had, we should have been top of the table. I agree… But just not right away. With a little more time and some corrections, we would have got there.
‘I had identified three signings in January and I am certain we would have made the play-offs. It’s gone now. I look ahead.’
‘It was such a mess’
Italian football journalist Marco DeMicheli told Sky Sports: ‘It was not because of him. The problem at Parma is that they had been relegated and there had been a change of ownership because an American businessman had bought the team.
‘There were a lot of problems, many players coming and going from abroad. It was such a mess.
‘He tried to play the City game with a very attacking line-up, using 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, but it was a very difficult situation at Parma. Those problems continued even after Maresca left. The problems were still there. They just lost the play-offs this season too.
What came next after Parma sacked him?
Following his dismissal at Parma, Enzo Maresca returned to Manchester City to become one of Pep Guardiola’s assistant managers, relacing Juan Manuel Lillo who had left to take a job at Saudi Pro League side Al Sadd.
His second spell behind the scenes at the Etihad would only last a year, though, as Leicester took a punt on him after their Premier League relegation.
‘Even at Parma, where things did not go well, when people talk about Maresca, they talk well about him. He was a really good manager and person. They could see he had something different. He had some particular ideas about attacking football.
‘One thing that impressed me was that, during the same training session, he was able to speak multiple languages at the same time. For example, he spoke English, Italian and Spanish. He also spoke some words of Greek with the Greek player he had there.
‘He was very kind to everybody, helpful to young players. He had Gianluigi Buffon, his former team-mate, there too. He spoke to him a lot because it was his first experience as a manager and he was trying to get all the help that he could.’
