Gabby Agbonlahor, who played with Jack Grealish at Aston Villa has heard what Pep Guardiola is like from him.
Grealish has spent three seasons working with Guardiola at Manchester City.
In June last year, the Manchester City winger revealed that he now understands the Catalan’s demands.
The City boss is known to be a perfectionist and a relentless winner — making him an incredible, yet challenging manager to work with if the player in question is not on the same wavelength as him.
In May, it was reported that Guardiola and Grealish had a conversation before the FA Cup final about the latter’s need to return to his best both on and off the pitch in the 2024/2025 season.
Gabby Agbonlahor reveals the real Pep Guardiola after Jack Grealish chat
After Manchester City beat West Ham 3-1 to win the Premier League on the final day of last season, the Englishman revealed that when he “struggled” due to various reasons, the Sky Blues boss was by his side.
Having seen various sides of Guardiola — as a tactician, a man-manager, during the highs and the lows and as a character in general, the £100 million man knows virtually everything there is to know about him.
On talkSPORT (22/07/2024, 4:22 pm), Gabby Agbonlahor revealed that Grealish has told him how Manchester City legend Pep Guardiola behaves behind the scenes.
“I spoke to Jack [Grealish] about him. He said, “Gabby, every player is on edge around him’. Do you know what I mean? He’s not one of them like, let’s have a laugh and joke and I am your pal. It’s like, no, you are a player and you are going to be on edge for his position.”
The revelation from Grealish shows how much respect Guardiola commands at Man City
The fact that Guardiola commands his players to be on their toes and fight for their place in the Manchester City side is why he has managed to sustain his success.
Despite being set to enter his ninth season at the Etihad Stadium, the players continue to respect the two-time treble-winning manager.
Often, the elite managers tend to have a fear factor around them due to their unrelenting will to win and sky-high standards.
Pep Guardiola is no different and due to how much the Manchester City squad continue to respect him, it seems unlikely that their motivation to win a fifth Premier League title in a row will dwindle.
The respect Guardiola commands from his players despite having been at the club for nearly a decade is a lesson up-and-coming managers should take from him.
