'Can you imagine?' - Enzo Maresca reveals bizarre rule that stops Erling Haaland ever becoming Man City captain

Enzo Maresca's unusual rule forbids Erling Haaland from being Manchester City's new captain, the Italian has revealed.

Maresca has replaced Pep Guardiola in the City hotseat, taking over from his long-time mentor after a trophy-laden decade at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Chelsea boss, who had two spells at City in different roles, is already putting his stamp on the team in their pre-season tour of Asia and is looking forward to welcome club-record signing Elliot Anderson into the mix.

One of the first big decisions he has to make at City is deciding who will be his new captain following Bernardo Silva's exit and subsequent move to Real Madrid.

In Guardiola's reign, City typically had a leadership group which was voted for by the players and ultimately saw them have the say in who was the captain.

However, for his final season, the Catalan personally selected Silva to be his captain after the experiment with Kyle Walker did not work out well.

Currently, Dias, Haaland and Rodri - subject to strong speculation about a move to Barcelona - form City's leadership group.

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But in a sit-down with multiple City correspondents and journalists in Seoul, Maresca explained why Haaland being captain presents a big problem to one of the rules he imposed in his previous two jobs in England.

"At Leicester and Chelsea, I had a rule that when we scored, the captain had to come to the bench for instructions," Maresca explained in the one-hour sit-down, as per Sam Lee of The Athletic.

"But if the captain scores, then he can celebrate. If Erling is the captain, f****** hell, we have a problem. Can you imagine?

"If you saw in the game here on Wednesday, Ruben (Dias) came over to the bench. I think even if it is two or three minutes in, there is always something to adjust."

Enzo Maresca wants to make change to Man City leadership group as captain frontrunner revealed

Haaland has worn the captain's armband for City on occasion and according to Maresca, he was the first to send a message of congratulations when his appointment was confirmed.

The two worked together in the treble-winning season in 2022/23, where Haaland bagged 52 goals in 53 games in all competitions.

The situation with Rodri and reports that Barcelona are set to table a second bid could mean Maresca needs to bring in two new players for the captaincy group.

According to the BBC, Maresca will decide the new captain on his own and natural leader Dias is the leading contender after driving the standards at City ever since his arrival from Benfica in 2020.

But Maresca is understood to want an English player in the leadership group, with both Marc Guehi and Phil Foden strong candidates to get the call-up.

Guehi has captaincy experience at Crystal Palace and Foden, 26 is the longest-serving player in City's current crop.

After concluding their pre-season tour, City take on Premier League champions Arsenal in the Community Shield on 16 August before kicking off the new season with a home game against Bournemouth on 23 August.