If England win big titles, it might be worth thanking Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has put England on course for Euro 2024 and World Cup glory. The Manchester City manager may never have set foot at St George’s Park, the English Football Association’s training base, but his influence on Gareth Southgate’s squad and the talent production line under the senior squad expands to over 30 serving players at all levels. week.

While six members of Southgate’s squad, who face Malta and North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualifiers in the coming days, play for City or played under Guardiola at the Etihad, a total of 27 players graduates of the club’s academy since the Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, who became manager in 2016, were selected in their respective age-grade squads for England’s matches during the international break.

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“Pep is the best manager in the world, in my opinion, and I’m a big admirer of what he does,” Southgate said in June this year. “It has been great for our players to work with him and they have learned from him, individually and tactically, and most importantly, his mentality.”

From Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis in Southgate’s senior squad, to the seven academy graduates selected in the Under-17 squad preparing for the U17 Euro qualifier against the Faroe Islands, the Kosovo and Croatia this week, Guardiola’s influence is clear and is the culmination of what Southgate predicted in 2018, two years after Guardiola’s move to City.

“I think he is likely to have an impact on English football,” Southgate said. “Who coaches our youngest players? It’s the fathers and parents who coach the junior teams, and the impact of seeing [Guardiola’s] The Barcelona team was huge.

“He was an innovator. When I watch kids’ football now, when they can access pitches that aren’t flooded or frozen, I see them playing from the back. I don’t see [coaches] with head in hands saying “go ahead”. I think it’s an impact of his team, with players like Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

“I always say we won’t leave the island, so it’s great to have coaches coming to the island to help us.”

When City hired Guardiola to take charge of the first team in 2016, the 52-year-old’s tenure extended far beyond just winning major trophies, including the Champions League and Premier League.

Having invested over £200 million in building the City Football Academy (CFA) training campus adjacent to the Etihad Stadium – a complex comprising 16 full-size pitches, a mini-stadium and state-of-the-art medical facilities which opened their doors in 2014 — President Khaldoon al-Mubarak also tasked Guardiola with overseeing the development of the club’s youth policy, with the ultimate ambition of building a talent factory comparable to Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy , which produced Lionel Messi, Iniesta and Xavi and many more. .

This challenge has been met. City’s under-21 and under-18 teams have won their respective Premier League titles for three consecutive seasons, while 26 academy graduates have been given first-team debuts by Guardiola since his arrival in 2016 .

“We are clearly creating high quality players for our club and English and European football,” Al Mubarak said when announcing the club’s annual report this week. “In doing so, we bring important players and sustainable revenue to Manchester City’s wider footballing ambitions.”

But while City are clearly benefiting from Guardiola’s influence at all levels at the Etihad, so are England and even City’s Premier League rivals, with Chelsea’s best player at the moment – Palmer – moving to Stamford Bridge in a £40 million move in September. England’s U21s won the European Championship for the first time in 39 years this summer with City graduates Palmer, James Trafford, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Tommy Doyle all making significant contributions to a coached team’s success by Lee Carsley, who spent a season as City’s U18 coach under Guardiola in 2016-17.

When the U21s regrouped for their first match of this season in September, 10 members of Carsley’s squad had come through the City Academy and two of them (Palmer and Lewis) have now been brought up within the senior team.

But it’s not just the numbers that make this point important. Guardiola’s demand for players comfortable on the ball and versatile enough to play in a variety of positions has given Southgate’s senior team players capable of playing at the highest level of international football. Palmer can play anywhere in the front three or as a number ten, while Lewis, 18, has played in the Champions League as a full-back and defensive midfielder. Foden is a long-standing member of Southgate’s squad and one who is comfortable in multiple positions.

Beyond that, there are City players who didn’t come through the club’s academy but were shaped by Guardiola like Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and John Stones, who is missing this international break due to ‘an injury, also bring many qualities to England. team.

When Southgate was handed the England job in the autumn of 2016, the national team was at rock bottom having been knocked out of Euro 2016 by Iceland before Sam Allardyce came and went as as coach after just one match in charge. England thrived under Southgate, reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup before finishing runners-up at Euro 2020, but England’s rise has also coincided with Guardiola’s growing influence on the game English in City.

Although England boasts talents such as Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, the foundation of Southgate’s team comes from City and Guardiola’s footballing philosophy.

If England finally realize their potential by securing a victory at a major tournament in the coming years, Guardiola will have recorded an assist.