Former Manchester City defender Gael Clichy has hailed City boss Pep Guardiola, revealing he changed his way of seeing football in just ten months.
Clichy made 203 appearances for Manchester City after joining them from Arsenal in a £6.98m deal in July 2011, eventually leaving on a free transfer in 2017.
His time at the club saw him coincide with Pep Guardiola’s arrival in 2016, although he only spent a year under him before his departure the following year.
Still, he made 39 appearances for Manchester City that season, featuring regularly as the first-choice left-back in the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and Champions League.
Given their short association, it would be easy to imagine the defender, who is now playing in Switzerland with Servette, wouldn’t have much to say about the former Barcelona boss.
That’s not the case, though, with Clichy claiming that Guardiola had a significant effect on how he views the game.
“Definitely Guardiola, who changed the way I viewed football in just 10 months,” he told Blick when asked which coaches inspired him.
“You have to experience it yourself to understand. He is a very intense person. The phrase “a game depends on little things” is a phrase, but Pep embodies it.
“He is extremely meticulous. He focuses on these details seven days a week. He allows every single player to improve.”
