Manchester City

Guardiola's previous assistant, Juanma Lillo, left his role with the Premier League champions to become manager of Qatari club Al Sadd on Friday, ending a two-year spell alongside the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.

As a result, City and Guardiola are on the look out for a new number two to sit in the dugout ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, and the Mirror are reporting that Maresca is in the frame.

After enjoying a successful playing career that began with West Bromwich Albion in 1998, Maresca made the move to Italy with Juventus, and went on to feature for numerous sides across Europe before hanging up his boots in 2017.

The Italian would go on to coach with Sevilla, Ascoli and West Ham United, before City saw his coaching potential and appointed him as manager of the club's development squad in 2020, a role in which he led the side to the Premier League 2 title in 2021.

However, Serie B outfit Parma swooped in to hire the 42-year-old as their manager last summer, before he was sacked just five months into the role following four wins from his 14 games in charge.