Former Premier League striker Jermain Defoe has labelled Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola as a genius.
The Spaniard won his fifth Premier League title in six years at the end of last season as well as his second FA Cup and third Champions League, his first with City.
With the 52-year-old now set to take on his eighth season with the Manchester club, one former Premier League star has shared his thoughts on the City boss.
Defoe dubs Guardiola a genius
Speaking in a recent edition of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast Defoe had this to say about Guardiola when asked about today’s style of football compared to when he was playing.
He said: “I’m old school, and I understand obviously the game has moved on and obviously you’ve got the Pep Guardiola’s, who’s a genius.”
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With 821 games under his belt during his time in charge of City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the Spaniard has won 608 of them, picking up numerous domestic and European trophies along the way.
In terms of his famous style of tika taka football of short passes that he introduced while at Barcelona, this earned him significant recognition, as Real Madrid legend Jorge Valdano said this about him back in 2012.
He said: “He is the Steve Jobs of football: experimental, brave, a lover of beauty and innovative. He is a reference point in world football and rightly so. Barca have turned their football into a culture.”
Having then gone on to be successful in Germany with Bayern and domestically dominant with City, this shows why Defoe has described Guardiola as a genius considering he’s been able to lift trophies in every country he’s managed in for such a significant period of time.
Moving forward, if the City boss can go on and regain the titles his side won last season next time around, he’ll undoubtedly increase his status as one of the best managers in Europe.