Julian Nagelsmann left TSG Hoffenheim for RB Leipzig before the start of the season and things have gone well for the manager and his current club.
Leipzig are second in the table, one point behind Bayern Munich, and they have a 1-0 first leg lead over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League knockout stage.
Speaking to SportBild, the German coach opened up about the ‘close relationship’ he shares with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
“Pep is the only one who I can sometimes ask about the content of how he sees something,” says Nagelsmann.
The newspaper makes it clear the Premier League winning coach and the 32-year-old are ‘not in daily contact’, but the latter receives honest advice from the City boss.
“I don’t call Pep to ask what to do against Bayern. I send him some of our game scenes as a video on my cell phone and tell him my solution. Then he answers honestly and we discuss,” says the Leipzig coach.
The regular conversation between Nagelsmann and Guardiola also helped Leipzig to take Angeliño on loan from City in January.
“He [Angeliño] learned a lot of things from Pep. Since I want to have something similar, he can’t do much wrong,” added Nagelsmann.
With the Leipzig manager speaking highly about Guardiola, SportBild asked him who is the best manager in the world. Nagelsmann responded in an interesting way and it includes discussing an interesting possibility.
“There are successful coaches and less successful ones. Choosing the best is just as difficult as choosing the world’s best football player. The coaches have different philosophies,” says Nagelsmann.
“It would be interesting to see how successful Pep would be with Hoffenheim or me with Manchester City. In principle, what speaks for Pep in the question are the titles that he won.”
