Maresca wants leaders for Manchester City before the transfer window shuts

There are only a few days left before the transfer window closes, and at Manchester City there is one very specific request on the table: leadership. Not goals, not speed, not a No. 9 for the box. Leadership. That is what Enzo Maresca wants to add before the window shuts this Tuesday night.

City's summer has mostly been about veterans moving out. Names with real weight in the locker room are gone: John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Rodri and Nathan Ake are no longer at the club. And when players with that kind of standing leave, the problem is not just about football. It's about the locker room, about who raises their voice when a game turns ugly.

So far, City's two big incoming moves have pointed in the opposite direction: youth. In have come French midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, just 18 years old, and midfielder Elliot Anderson, 23. Both are players with real upside, sure, but not exactly the type you put at the front of the group in a season where City needs to fight for everything again.

That's why Maresca was direct in his press conference ahead of Friday's Premier League match against Crystal Palace.

We have players with experience, for sure. We have leaders. Now we need to wait four or five more days to see if we can add one or two more captains alongside Ruben (Dias) and Erling (Haaland), who are the captains.Enzo Maresca

The comment lays out the diagnosis clearly: right now City has captains, but not many. Dias and Haaland carry the armband and much of the responsibility on a squad that, with so many high profile exits, has gotten younger faster than expected.

The Enzo Fernandez trail

In the British press, a familiar name has come up again: Enzo Fernandez, the Chelsea midfielder. It's no coincidence that his name surfaces right in this conversation about leadership: it was Maresca himself who named him vice captain when the two were together at Stamford Bridge. If anyone knows firsthand what kind of leader the Argentine is, it's the Italian coach.

Even so, Maresca played down the idea of an imminent signing. Asked whether the club is close to closing any more deals, he was blunt.

No, no, no. The one who arrived is Ayyoub (on Wednesday), and after that we'll see over the next four or five days.Enzo Maresca

In other words: nothing is locked in, everything is still up in the air. City's window stays open until Tuesday night, and according to their coach, the priority is no longer getting younger but balancing the squad with experience and personality. The question that lingers is simple: will that "one or two more captains" show up before the clock runs out, or will City have to build leadership from within using what it already has?