Wayne Rooney believes Pep Guardiola’s impending departure from Manchester City has rendered next season’s Premier League title race impossible to call.
The FACup holders are yet to comment on reports that their long-serving manager is to stand down after Sunday’s Premier League finale against Aston Villa and be replaced by Enzo Maresca who has been out of work since leaving Chelsea at the start of the year.
Guardiola still has a year remaining on his contract and City’s position on the matter has not changed throughout the season, despite persistent speculation.
The 55-year-old has overseen one of the most successful managerial reigns in English football history.
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Since his appointment in 2016, City have won 20 trophies including six Premier League titles and the Champions League.
They have also won the FA Cup three times and lifted the Carabao Cup on five occasions, including both competitions this term.
They remain in contention for the Premier League title and face Bournemouth on Tuesday, hoping to take the race with Arsenal to the final weekend.
Maresca, 46, worked as Guardiola’s assistant during their treble-winning campaign in 2022-23, having previously been part of City’s academy set-up.
The Italian subsequently guided Leicester to promotion to the Premier League before joining Chelsea, where he won the Club World Cup and Conference League during his only full season in charge.
Despite the coherent succession plan in place that appears to be in place,Rooney believes history tells us City will find it impossible to hit the heights they have done under Guardiola and next season’s title race will be ‘wide open’.
He told the BBC: ‘There’s no way they will be as successful. I think the issue Man City will have is obviously you’ve seen how difficult it was to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, how difficult it even was even for Unai Emery when he went in at Arsenal and how difficult he found it to replace Arsene Wenger.
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‘I don’t think it’ll be the replacing him. I think it’s the respect which he commands and the influence and the pull in signing players.
‘The talk is Maresca is going to go in and I just don’t think that will have the same impact from that point of view.
‘I really do think that opens it up and the Premier League next season is going to be so exciting.
‘You’ll have City with a new manager, Chelsea with a new manager, Man United, Liverpool potentially with a new manager.
‘The Premier League next season will be wide open to see who wins that title.