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Manchester City gave £185m worth of talent signed on transfer deadline day their Premier League debuts in the 1-0 Premier League victory over Coventry and manager Enzo Maresca will have been quietly satisfied with what he saw from his new duo.
Midfielder Enzo Fernandez, brought in from Chelsea for £125m, was initially named as a substitute but was given a late call-up into the starting XI after Nico O'Reilly sustained a knock in the warm-up, while £60m Iliman Ndiaye also played from the off.
Both players have had limited time on the training ground with their new team-mates, but showcased early signs of what they will bring to the side and how competition for starting places has ramped up at Etihad Stadium.
Maresca knows Fernandez from his time in charge at Chelsea, with the pair winning the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup together, and he played a pivotal role in Erling Haaland's winning goal.
Maresca said: "It is much more easier when a player you already share time together [joins] because they know exactly what you want.
"We know each other very well, I know how good he is and I know that he is going to help the team to win games."
City clung on to a nervy victory against the Sky Blues to maintain their 100% winning start to the season, but managed to get the job done courtesy of a string of saves from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Haaland continued his fine start to the season by converting his third goal in as many games from Antoine Semenyo's deep cross, which came after Fernandez played through a slide-rule pass to the Ghanaian.
Playing in the number eight role, Argentina international Fernandez was given licence to roam and make late bursts into the box - he touched the ball six times in the opposition area, with only Haaland managing more with 11.
Fernandez could have had a dream debut but saw two shots blocked, before being replaced after 76 minutes by fellow summer signing Ayyoub Bouaddi.
The 18-year-old Morocco international was part of City's midfield rebuild and highlights the options available to Maresca despite the departures of Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez.
Ndiaye, meanwhile, became the first Senegalese player to represent City and is bound to give opposition defenders with his trickery and pace. No player attempted more dribbles in the match than his eight.
Maresca said: "Enzo and Iliman [played their] first game with us and then Ayyoub and Ryan [McAidoo] their first game in front of our fans.
"That is why I said there are many reasons I am happy about our win. I think they were all good.
"Ili just had two sessions with us. He needs to understand how to move. Most of the time he was moving in the wrong way, wrong position, but he needs to learn and for sure he is going to learn."
Asked to elaborate on Ndiaye's performance, Maresca said: "When Marc Guehi has the ball and he was dropping a lot and we don't need that.
"We need him in the last third so he can be a little bit more higher. That space was more for Josko Gvardiol.
City's deadline-day deals make it easy to forget that England international Elliot Anderson also joined this summer for £116m from Nottingham Forest.
The 23-year-old is beginning to find his feet in a City shirt, being named man of the match against Coventry despite the travelling team threatening to cause a huge upset.
Frank Lampard's side could not take their chances and Anderson ended the game completing 143 of his 155 passes, four more than the Coventry team.
"Really impressed," said Maresca. "Not just today. He was very good against Palace; he was also very good against Bournemouth, having only been one week with us when we changed him for cramp.
"But the best thing with Elliot is the day by day. He is asking how he can learn. We sit with him one-v-one video [analysis] and he wants to be better, and that is the best thing for any player."
Former England international Lampard added: "He is a really good player. I admire him from afar and did at Forest, but this was the first time I had seen him close up in the flesh.
"Very smart, very talented and a very good player - good brain, everything you need in a midfield player - and he is going to be a fantastic player for Manchester City.
"He had a lot of the ball today. I don't think he could hurt us, but he was constantly on it and I highly respect players like that, no doubt."
"It is the same thing in this [other] side. But it is normal and with time they will learn the way we want them to play."
