Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca (born 10 February 1980) is an Italian professional football manager and former player.

He is currently the manager of EFL Championship club Leicester City.

After starting out at West Bromwich Albion in 1998, he went on to play for several clubs in his country, including Juventus, who loaned him twice for the duration of his contract, and with whom he won the league title in 2002.

He made his debut in a 2-0 home defeat against Bradford City on 20 September 1998, and in total played two incomplete seasons with the English club in the Football League First Division.

In January 2000, Maresca moved back to Italy and joined Juventus in a transfer worth £4.3 million, a club record sale for Albion at the time.

He played in only one Serie A game until the end of the season.

For two of the following three seasons, Maresca was loaned to fellow league teams Bologna and Piacenza – co-ownershp deal in the latter case – scoring nine goals in 2002–03 but suffering team relegation.

During the previous campaign, he notably netted an important equaliser in the Derby della mole return leg, against neighbouring Torino; he attracted controversy, however, when he celebrated the goal by mimicking Torino's Marco Ferrante's earlier "Bull-horn" goal celebration (the bull being a club symbol as it is Turin's coat of arms, and the side also being known in its contracted form as "Toro", bull in Italian).

Juventus subsequently bought the remaining 50% of his rights for €2.6 million.

After being released in 2004, he went to play one season with Fiorentina; he then resumed his career in La Liga with Sevilla (where he remained for four years) and Málaga, appearing in 134 games and scoring 17 goals in the competition whilst winning five major titles with the former side; in between his two spells in Spain he also spent one year in Greece with Olympiacos, later returning to Italy in 2012, where he played until his retirement in 2017, totalling 140 appearances and 17 goals in Serie A.

Maresca represented Italy at youth level, including the Italy under-21 team, but was never capped at senior level.

Born in Pontecagnano Faiano, Province of Salerno, Maresca started playing football at the age of 11 with A.C. Milan and joined Cagliari after three years.

He began his professional career with English club West Bromwich Albion, despite having "no grasp of the English language".

In the 2004 summer, Fiorentina signed Maresca along with Fabrizio Miccoli and Giorgio Chiellini for €13 million, with Juventus holding half of the players' rights.

He made his official debut on 12 September, playing 60 minutes in a 0–1 away loss against Roma.

At the end of the season, with the Viola narrowly avoiding top level relegation, Juventus bought back all three for about €6.7 million in a blind auction between the clubs.

Maresca's cost was of only about €7,000, but an additional €420,000 agent fee in order to keep the player was also involved.

On 16 July 2005, Maresca transferred to Sevilla in Spain, for a fee of €2.5 million and four years.

He quickly became a key player for his new club.

In his first season in La Liga, he played 29 games and scored eight goals.

He played eleven games and scored three goals in the side's victorious campaign in the UEFA Cup.

This included scoring twice in the final against Middlesbrough (4–0) where he was also named Man of the match.

Maresca donated €10,000 prize money to the San Juan de Dios hospital in Seville.

Maresca played 45 minutes in the 2007 UEFA Cup Final at Hampden Park, as Sevilla successfully defended its European title, against Espanyol.

He appeared in an average of 22 league matches in his last three years combined.

On 13 July 2009, Maresca transferred to Olympiacos from Greece in a three-year deal.

He scored in his Superleague debut, a 2–0 win at Larissa, and appeared regularly during the 2009–10 campaign as the Piraeus-based club finished in second position.

After terminating his contract with Olympiacos in August 2010, Maresca trained with former club Fiorentina in order to maintain match fitness.

Maresca made his league debut for his new team on 8 January 2011, playing 57 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against Athletic Bilbao.

On 7 May, he contributed with one goal to the team's 3–0 success at Atlético Madrid.

Maresca appeared in 19 matches in 2011–12 (nine starts, two goals ) as his team finished in fourth position and qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history.

On 7 December, it was announced that he had been in talks with Málaga; after undergoing a medical examination, he signed with the Andalusians until June 2012.

On 2 July 2012, as his contract was about to expire, Maresca signed a new one-year link with Málaga.

On 30 August, however, he returned to his country after seven years, joining Sampdoria for free.

Maresca scored his second goal of the season through a bicycle kick, but in a 1–2 home loss against Atalanta on 4 November 2012.

In January 2014, after having featured rarely in the first half of the new campaign, he agreed on a return to the Serie B and joined league leaders Palermo, who were in need of a playmaker.

After contributing to the team's championship conquest, on 15 September 2014 he underwent an operation due to acute appendicitis, and the following January he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2016.

On 15 May 2016, in the last matchday, Maresca scored in a 3–2 home win over Hellas Verona to help save his team from relegation.

In September, the free agent joined the opposition who in turn had dropped down a level.

On 13 January 2017, Maresca terminated his contract with Verona.