Pep Guardiola has said that he has been satisfied with how Josko Gvardiol has fared at Manchester City so far.
As shared by the Sky Blues’ official YouTube channel, the Catalan boss was quizzed about how he reckons Gvardiol has adapted to life at the Etihad Stadium in his latest press conference.
Mateo Kovacic believes City made the right decision by signing the 21-year-old, as he feels he has the potential to dominate football for the next decade.
Pep Guardiola says Josko Gvardiol is already “so important” for Manchester City
Ruben Dias also praised the £200,000-a-week (Sport Rac) man by saying that he has “tremendous quality” and pinpointed his burning desire to win.
Even Manuel Akanji complimented the former RB Leipzig colossus by saying that he is a “really good defender for his age” and also noted how well he has settled in at City.
Pep Guardiola has also said much of the same about Josko Gvardiol while also emphasising his importance to Manchester City already.
“I don’t have [much] more than incredible words for him. First, how he’s settled because he’s an incredible person, like Matheus [Nunes] and Mateo [Kovacic], all the guys who came this season. Oscar Bobb arrived, top”, Guardiola said in his press conference, as shared by City’s official YouTube channel.
“Maybe it’s not easy at the beginning, [moving from] the one league to the other one but when he plays, he plays [at a] top standard, high standard. Sometimes, I move because sometimes, Manu [Manuel Akanji] didn’t play, Ruben [Dias] didn’t play two or three games ago and [I rotate] him with Nathan [Ake] but he’s so important. So important.”
Guardiola concluded, “Nathan [Ake] cannot play every three days, we know that. So, he’s important and for example, the game against Leipzig, he was unbelievable. I reviewed the game yesterday. It was really, really good.”
Josko Gvardiol has the potential to go down as Manchester City’s greatest defender
Pep Guardiola clearly realises how special a defender Josko Gvardiol is, who has been a class act during his early days as a Manchester City player.
Perhaps Vincent Kompany and John Stones were as talented as the ex-Dinamo Zagreb centre-half at the same age.
But Gvardiol has operated at higher levels than the pair when they were 21, regularly playing in the Champions League while having also participated in two international tournaments already.
Even at the Qatar World Cup, Josko Gvardiol was easily one of the finest defenders, while reaching the semi-final of the competition.
The Croatian is also more versatile than any other centre-back to have played for City at his age, capable of operating in his natural position and as a left-back at a high level, as well as in a multitude of systems.
As long as he continues to put in the hard graft and learn the tricks of the trade from Guardiola, the versatile defender has the potential the greatest defender to have ever played for Manchester City.
