Enzo Maresca said Manchester City had to change something after Nico O'Reilly pulled out in the warm-up before Manchester City vs Coventry. Enzo Fernández went into the starting line-up, and Maresca used the late switch to back the new arrivals as players he expects to lean on.

Maresca's message after the late change

Speaking to Metro, Maresca said: "For Elliot, Enzo and Ayyoub [coming in] it’s because we knew that we need to change something,"

He added: "They are quite young and full of energy. [How we use them] It depends a little bit on the gameplan we have."

The manager then drew the line he wanted to draw from the evening: "But there are no doubts that these three are going to be main players for us."

That is the clearest part of the story. City were forced into a last-minute adjustment, and Maresca used it to put Fernández and the rest of the new trio at the centre of his thinking rather than on the edge of it.

Fernández has already made 7 appearances this season and has a 7.05 rating, so this was not a throwaway fix for City. O'Reilly, by contrast, has only 2 Premier League appearances and 152 league minutes, which is why the warm-up withdrawal landed as a real selection problem rather than a minor footnote.

O'Reilly's fitness issue and the next fixtures

The concern around O'Reilly goes beyond one delayed start. He was a huge doubt for the Champions League game with Porto, and City’s next league derby is away to Manchester United on Sunday, September 13.

O'Reilly is only 21, and he had already been trusted for 63 minutes in his last league outing against Crystal Palace before this setback interrupted the run. The issue is still framed as a back injury concern, not something longer term, but City do not have much time before the schedule tightens again.

The practical read is straightforward enough: Maresca has a squad decision to make, and his own comments suggest the new signings are already part of the answer. O'Reilly’s fitness will be checked against Porto first, then the Manchester derby a few days later.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →