Pep Guardiola has a history of favouring technically gifted players — whether it be at Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Manchester City.
Guardiola’s teams tend to dominate possession and for that to be executed, it is important for his players to be able to receive the ball, pass and control the game at a high level.
Naturally, technically brilliant young players from Manchester City’s academy like Phil Foden, Rico Lewis, Cole Palmer and James McAtee drew his attention.
In the first-team as well, one would be hard-pressed to find even one player in City’s squad who does not possess technical quality.
During his spell at Barcelona, Pep Guardiola worked with arguably some of the best set of technicians the game has ever seen.
At Bayern Munich as well, the technique possessed by a majority of his players was simply world-class.
Sherwood says Guardiola “never liked” players like Man City superstar
Being a technically gifted midfielder himself and learning the game at Barcelona, Pep Guardiola perhaps harks back to the footballing principles that he grew up on.
As a result, the decorated tactician seems to have a preference for a certain profile of players in place.
Ultimately, the presence of such players also allows Guardiola’s sides to control games with the ball at their feet — a trait that defines his style of football.
Erling Haaland, on the other hand, despite being an elite striker is not a player who one would associate with being a world-class technician.
Yet, the £51 million man seemed to have gained the Catalan coach’s full faith from day one.
Tim Sherwood claimed that Haaland is the type of player Pep Guardiola usually would not prefer to have at his disposal.
The pundit said on Premier League Productions’ The Weekend Wrap: “Pep Guardiola has never had a player like this. He’s never liked players like this who don’t get involved in the general play but when you have someone who is so good at it, he will suffer it.”
Erling Haaland is proof that Pep Guardiola merely rates top players
The fact that Haaland is a mainstay at Manchester City is an indicator of the fact that Pep Guardiola simply prefers to work with top players.
At the end of the day, it is difficult to sign the exact profile of player in every position.
However, like any elite manager, Guardiola seems to adapt to his players’ characteristics.
After Manchester City won the treble by deploying a pair of wingers who would naturally be considered midfielders in Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, perhaps many would not have expected him to start direct wide forwards like Savinho and Jeremy Doku this season.
However, Guardiola constantly seems to adapt as a manager and with Haaland being an incredible goalscorer while not being the best technician, he ensures that his strengths come to light.
