Enzo Maresca says Manchester City still have serious work to do in the transfer market and he is in regular contact with club officials with a view to strengthening his squad.
City sent out a statement of intent to their Premier League rivals as they completed a club-record £116million deal to sign Nottingham Forest and England star Elliot Anderson last month.
It saw the 23-year-old central midfielder become the first signing of Maresca’s reign after Pep Guardiola brought down the curtain on his glittering decade-long tenure at the Etihad earlier in the summer.
But Anderson remains the only addition to City’s first-team squad with less than a month remaining of the summer transfer window, and fans are growing impatient for further reinforcements after two years without a Premier League title.
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Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have all been allowed to depart the blue half of Manchester, following Guardiola out the exit door and taking with them a bucketload of experience.
Widespread reports this week claim City are actively pursuing a deal for Chelsea winger Pedro Neto, a player who of course knows Maresca well from their time together at Stamford Bridge.
It remains to be seen if City will be prepared to meet Chelsea’s hefty £70million asking price for the Portugal international, who is also being linked with AC Milan.
‘Fortunately, this is a squad that doesn’t need to do many things,’ Maresca told reporters at a press conference ahead of City’s pre-season clash with K-League All Stars in Seoul.
‘At the same time, as we already know, the club lost important players in terms of experience like Bernardo [Silva], John [Stones], Nathan [Ake], different players.
‘So for sure, there are things that we need to do.’
Asked if City are any closer to bringing in any other bodies, Maresca replied: ‘No, not at the moment.
‘The reason why I said there are things to do is because the transfer window is open and when it’s open anything can happen.
‘Yeah, it’s just August and then from September when it’s closed it’s completely different.’
Maresca was keen to reassure supporters that he had been in daily communication with City’s director of football Hugo Viana and CEO Ferran Soriano to discuss potential incomings and outgoings.
‘Hugo is here and also Ferran is here,’ the Italian added.
‘We just try to speak day by day to see if we need to do something.
‘As I’ve said, for sure there are things that we need to do, but we are in communication every day.’
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It was defeat for Maresca in his opening match in charge of City, with Inter Milan prevailing on penalties to decide a scrappy pre-season encounter in Hong Kong.
The former Chelsea and Leicester manager has been encouraged by what he has seen from his players but admits ‘there are many things’ that can be improved ahead of the new campaign.
‘It’s important since day one to try to install new ideas and new things,’ he explained.
‘It’s important that day after day, but especially game after game, you can see during the game the things that you work on day by day.
‘For instance, the first game against Inter Milan, for sure there are many things that we can do better.
‘But the main thing is that I start to see things we start to work on since day one.’
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