Ten years, six Premier League titles and the 2022-23 Champions League: Pep Guardiola's reign at Manchester City is over. He confirmed his departure on 22 May, closing the most dominant spell an English club has enjoyed in the modern era. "After 10 years, it is good to shake, to move, different faces, it's really good for everyone," he said, framing the exit as renewal rather than retreat.
The Premier League he leaves behind barely resembles the one he inherited back in 2016, and this summer three of its heavyweight clubs, City, Chelsea and Liverpool, have all gone looking for a new voice in the dugout at the same time. That is a rare coincidence for a league usually defined by continuity at the very top.
Maresca arrives, promises no copy and paste
City moved for Enzo Maresca, the Italian who had left Chelsea on 1 January amid a messy split the club described only as "parting company", after a run that left the Blues fifth. He was unveiled as Guardiola's successor and held his first press conference at the Etihad on 24 July.
Maresca was blunt about the comparisons that will follow him all season. "I don't think they just copy and paste," he said. "I don't see the football in the same way as the previous manager, that is why I don't believe in copy and paste."
He also confirmed the club's most pressing problem. Rodri, Spain's World Cup winning captain and Golden Ball winner, needs back surgery, a blow to a midfield already being rebuilt, and faces an uncertain recovery that could keep him out for the start of the season.
City's rebuild is already under way on the training pitch. Players returned for pre-season training on 20 July, and the squad flew out on 28 July for a tour of East Asia. Maresca's first competitive test at the Etihad comes at home to Bournemouth on Sunday 23 August.
Alonso and Iraola complete the reshuffle
City are not alone in tearing up the dugout. Chelsea had already moved on from Maresca, appointing Xabi Alonso on a four-year deal from 1 July. Alonso played for Liverpool before leaving for Real Madrid in 2009, and he arrives at Stamford Bridge carrying pedigree from both Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool changed manager too. Andoni Iraola was appointed in June, replacing the sacked Arne Slot and joining from Bournemouth, where his work had turned a newly promoted side into one of the league's sharpest counter-attacking teams.
Three of English football's traditional heavyweights start the new season under new management, a level of upheaval at the top the division has rarely seen in a single summer.
Arsenal open as champions
None of it changes the opening fixture list. Arsenal, champions for the first time since 2003-04 after ending a 22-year wait for the title, begin the defence of their crown at home to newly promoted Coventry City on Friday 21 August. They do so with settled management, the calm at the eye of the Premier League's summer storm.
City follow two days later against Bournemouth, with Maresca needing a response from a squad that must also work out how to cope without Rodri for however long his recovery takes.
Whether the upheaval at City, Chelsea and Liverpool produces a genuine title challenge, or simply gives Arsenal room to grow into the favourites' tag, is the question the opening weeks of the season will start to answer.
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