Has Agreement Finally Been Reached For Maresca?

Blues rumoured to have paid in excess of £10m to secure Guardiola's replacement

We are now motoring through the Group stage games in this summers World Cup and hosted in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico and whatever kind of Manchester City fix you may be in need of, we have players both former and current out on display for their countries right now. But it seems we are having our own kind of hydration break at the Etihad Stadium campus as we are still awaiting the appointment of new manager Enzo Maresca.

From the moment that the 55 year old serial winning Pep Guardiola announced his emotional goodbye from the club after all the success he had tasted with us down the years, everyone knew that the 46 year old former professional midfielder, former Chelsea gaffer and our own former Elite Development Squad Premier League 2 title winning head coach and later first team assistant, would be returning home to take up the head role at the first team level.

And although it has long been considered to be a done deal and no list of all UK betting sites would feature any odds on another name taking the role on, we have not yet announced him presumably as we have not yet actually come to an agreement with his former Stamford Bridge based employers. That may all change as this week, and the month begins to draw to a close as it is now being reported that an agreement has finally been struck, but that Chelsea - and their recent financially ridiculous ways - have realised they need to get some cash in and have absolutely stung us on the compensation package.

The claim comes from Italian journalist/outlet Gianluca Di Marzio, so I suspect we can instantly halve the fees talked about. But it has been said that the total agreement has been struck at the 20 million Euro (£17.2 million) mark. But that remains a hell of a fee for someone who is, and has been, out of work since the start of the year and New Years Day after his very public falling out with their board.

That will not be the only first team coaching expense this summer, as several of Pep's team have also departed for pastures new, and there are spots to fill in the dugout. There is also an expectation that current Under 21 gaffer Ben Wilkinson will be departing, so our backroom boys will be looking at further recruitment issues as well if that comes to pass.

Those things will undoubtedly bubble away in the background but City fans already know that we are in perfectly capable good hands. So although eyebrows will be raised at Maresca's release fee, especially in light of how long it has already taken and the fact that he is yet to officially and properly begin work and his preparations for the coming campaign, is it nothing to overly fret about and this continues to be the off season anyway.

Maresca will know what he wants to do irrespective of where he is actually doing his research, and the only real time for any concerns to come front and centre will be in the delays continuing when we are on the cusp of pre season build up beginning.