Carles Puyol has claimed that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is the best head coach in the world.
The 53-year-old recently picked up the FIFA Best Men’s Coach Award after guiding his side to win five major domestic and European titles in 2023.
Following this latest accolade, one of Guardiola’s former players has shared his thoughts on the City manager and where he ranks among other head coaches in football right now.
Puyol says Guardiola is one of a kind
Speaking in a recent interview shared on Match of the Day’s Twitter page where they posted a clip previewing the BBC’s upcoming documentary about Guardiola, Puyol had this to say about the City boss.
He said: “If you held a match and if you took away the strips and didn’t know which team was which, you could tell which team was Pep’s. For me, he’s the best by far.”
During their time together at Barcelona, Puyol made 164 appearances under Guardiola between the 2008/09 and 2011/12 seasons.
Regarding the former defender’s point about Guardiola’s distinctive style of play, the former Barcelona manager became synonymous with tiki-taka tactics, which helped the Spanish club be so successful under the 53-year-old’s tenure.
With 445 games under his belt as City manager, the Spaniard has won 328, drawn 53 and lost 64, picking up 14 major titles along the way.
While Puyol may be biased given his experience with Guardiola, it’s hard to argue with him about how impressive Guardiola’s managerial career has been.
Moving forward, if the Spaniard can continue to win trophies during his time in charge of the Citizens, however long that turns out to be, he will undoubtedly be viewed as one of the best managers that English football has ever seen and one of the best of his generation.
