Enzo Maresca warns Man City of Bournemouth threat as transfer drama grows

The City boss has been preparing for his first league match in charge after replacing Pep Guardiola and knows his team must respond quickly following their Community Shield defeat by Arsenal.

Maresca has studied Bournemouth closely and believes their approach will be clear from the opening whistle.

"I watched the game, I watched the pre-season game. I also watched some games from last season," Maresca said.

"You can see clearly the identity. A very aggressive team. They already were aggressive with Andoni (Iraola), and they still are. It's quite clear what they do on the ball and off the ball."

City will be without Jeremy Doku for the opening weeks of the season after the winger suffered a calf problem.

Maresca confirmed that Doku is expected to be sidelined for around two to three weeks.

"In the last game at half-time he was complaining about a bit of pain in the calf," he said. "We didn't want him to play more than 45 minutes so the change was planned. At the moment it is looking about two to three weeks, no more than that."

The City manager was also asked about growing transfer speculation surrounding Savinho and Omar Marmoush.

Savinho has reportedly made it clear that he wants to leave, while Marmoush has also been linked with a move away from the Etihad.

Maresca admitted it can be difficult to keep a player who has decided that he wants a new challenge.

"It's quite clear that when players want to leave, for any reason, then it's complicated to convince them to stay or change their thoughts," he said.

"It happened with Rodri; the same thing is happening with Savinho, since day one he asked me that he wants to leave. So now we are waiting."

Maresca added that players can have different reasons for wanting a move, including the possibility of returning to Spain or looking for more regular first-team football.

However, he made it clear that Marmoush has not asked to leave.

"Omar has not asked to leave since day one," Maresca said. Asked if that had changed this week, he replied: "Not yet."

The City boss was also questioned about reports linking Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez with a move to Manchester.

Fernandez has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Rodri, but Maresca refused to discuss a player who remains under contract elsewhere.

"Enzo Fernandez is a Chelsea player, and I'm not going to talk about players that are not with us," he said.

"First of all, because I think it's a lack of respect, and second because I don't like when different managers talk about our players."