Graeme Souness makes bold claims on Pep Guardiola despite Man City’s success

Graeme Souness has dismissed the idea that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is a genius, putting his success down to “having the best players”.

Souness’ comments were made on William Hill’s new podcast Three Up Front, which also features Simon Jordan and Troy Deeney. Despite Guardiola’s impressive collection of 37 major trophies with Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Souness is not ready to hand him the title of genius.

He believes the caliber of players at Guardiola’s disposal has been key to his trophy-laden career. Speaking on the podcast, Souness said: “Pep Guardiola has managed three clubs and in all of them he’s had the best group of players in any league he’s been in.

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“He took over from Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona where he had Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and many others. He went to Bayern Munich after they had just won the Quadruple.

He then came to City, where he took over a team with which both Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini had won the Premier League. Souness suggested that when Guardiola arrived at City in 2016, the team was already primed for success and only needed “the tiniest bit of tweaking” before Guardiola embarked on a period of dominance in English football, securing five Premier League titles, four EFL Cups. and two FA Cups.

“He’s taken on an exceptional group of players in each case,” added Souness. “City are the richest team in England and they only needed the tiniest of changes when he took over.

“Obviously he manages the players very well, but there’s no genius there. It’s just having the best players. If you have an average manager with great players, then you have a chance to be successful.”

He also reflected on his own experiences, stating: “I’ve been in dressing rooms where everything had been set in stone for the team by the players who came before us, so the manager barely had to speak to us.”