Enzo Maresca: who is the manager linked with Celtic and Aberdeen - and odds on him joining either club

The Man City coach has been linked with a move north of the border

Enzo Maresca currently manages Man City's under-23 side (Getty Images)

Enzo Maresca is a wanted man.

Since the dismissal of Neil Lennon, the Italian has been underlined as a front runner to take the reigns at Parkhead.

Now, following the sacking of Derek McInnes the Man City under-23 coach has been handed short odds to take the helm at Aberdeen FC

But who is the coach who could be set to make waves in Scottish football?

Early management career of Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca is yet to manage a football club at senior level.

He served as assistant manager at Ascoli who managed just three victories under the stewardship of Fulvio Fiorin.

Despite the rocky start in management, Maresca caught the eye of Vincenzo Montella who recurited him as his assistant at Sevilla.

The duo would guide the Spaniards to their first ever Champions League quarter final, defeating Man United 2-1, while also leading the club to a Copa del Rey final. Sevilla would suffer a 5-0 defeat in the final, and indifferent La Liga form would ultimately spell the end in Southern Spain for the two Italians.

Work in England

After briefly serving as a technical coach under caretaker manager Joaquín Caparrós, Maresca moved to England working as an assistant manager under Chilean Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham United.

Pellegrini proved a failure at the London club but the Hammers were reportedly keen to keep Maresca on following the former-Real Madrid manager’s dismissal. According to reports in Italy West Ham United even considered hiring the Italian as manager before they recruited David Moyes.

Despite West Ham’s interest in retaining his services Maresca joined up with Man City, taking over as under-23 manager.

Upon joining Man City Maresca underlined his ambition to develop the youth team.

He said: “In this moment, my main target and duty is to help all the guys to improve and grow in the right way professionally. This is my main target – just to try to help them develop and grow.

“One of my first ideas is to try to improve them as single players and as a team and in the same moment just to try to see if we can reach some important targets as a team - in the Premier League 2 season, in the UEFA Champions Youth League and in the EFL Trophy.

“We are going to see but, absolutely, one of the aims is try to accomplish some important targets.”

As head coach Maresca has steered the club to top of Premier League 2.

Playing career of Enzo Maresca

A versatile central midfielder Enzo Maresca kicked of his senior career in 1998 at West Bromwich Albion, playing two seasons at the then First Division club.

His performances would catch the eye of Italian giants Juventus who recruited Maresca in 2000. During his spell at Juventus Maresca would appear 37 times for the Old Lady, famously scoring in a heated Turin derby.

Sean Ingle of the Guardian described his celebration at the time, writing: “not content with earning Juventus a point, Maresca then mocked the Torino fans by imitating Ferrante's earlier goal celebration by holding his forefingers to his head to imitate a bull's horns, the logo of Torino.”

Big spender Fiorentina recruited Maresca along with Giorgio Chiellini in 2004 before he was offloaded to Sevilla. At Sevilla the midfielder would enjoy his most successful spell, winning a Copa del Rey and two UEFA cups.

Short stints at Olympiacos and Malaga would follow, before Maresca saw out his playing career at Italian outfits Sampdoria, Palermo and Verona, leading Palermo to a Serie B title.

Odds on joining Celtic and Aberdeen

Maresca is listed by Paddy Power as second-favourite for the Celtic job with odds of 5/2, just behind interim manager John Kennedy who is backed at 7/5.

He is listed as 12/1 to take over at Aberdeen FC, someway behind current favourite Stephen Glass (6/5).