Ornstein reveals Chelsea boss Maresca ‘high among the candidates’ to replace Guardiola at Man City

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is one of the top candidates at Man City if Pep Guardiola decides to leave the Etihad Stadium in the near future, according to David Ornstein.

The Blues boss has guided Chelsea into the top four of the Premier League in recent weeks but made a strange comment ahead of their 2-0 win over Everton last weekend.

He described the period between their Champions League defeat to Atalanta and their victory over the Toffees as his “worst 48 hours at the club” with anger seemingly directed at the club’s hierarchy.

Jamie Carragher thinks if Maresca keeps up the public comments about the Chelsea ownership then he’ll eventually lose out.

Carragher said on Sky Sports: “It’s not uncertain. He’s speaking about the owners and the sporting directors.

“I think this is a classic case that you see at a lot of clubs now, where you have a head coach – not a manager – and sporting directors. And what you get is, the coach comes in initially and agrees to the terms and conditions, but then he feels like he’s done a really great job.

READ: Premier League mood rankings as Tottenham plummet and Villa soar

“And he has done a really great job, getting Champions League football last season, and winning a European competition, and winning the Club World Cup.

“So, slowly, he feels like he should get more power. He’d be really disappointed about Chelsea not going into the market and buying a centre back in the summer, when (Levi) Colwill got the big injury. And in the last few weeks, the results have just turned on them a little bit.

“He’s calling something out that he wants something, in the public – which I don’t agree with. We talked about Mo Salah last week, it was extreme, but it was a similar sort of situation. I don’t like people going public, whether it’s a manager or a player, you sort it in-house.

“But the problem for Maresca is, if you continue like this, there’s only going to be one winner. And it’s not him.”

READ: What every club needs most in January: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea want the same thing

But Maresca is apparently in the running for another top job if it becomes available with The Athletic journalist Ornstein insisting that the Chelsea boss is ‘high among candidates’ if Guardiola leaves Man City.

The Citizens are preparing for Guardiola’s potential departure next summer with ‘numerous well-placed sources outside the club’ claiming that ‘there is a growing anticipation of this being Guardiola’s last season at City’.

Maresca is part of that contingency plan as the Italian ‘retains admirers in the hierarchy and is expected to figure prominently if a vacancy arises, although he would not be the only contender’.