Abu Dhabi: Pep Guardiola will take Manchester City to a “whole new level,” the club’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has claimed.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager will start his three-year tenure at The Etihad on July 1 and Al Mubarak insists the club have recruited possibly the best manager in the world.
Owner Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, has injected hundreds of millions of pounds into the club he bought in 2008, and in that time City have secured two English Premier League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups.
His hope is that Guardiola can now bring the type of dominance he enjoyed at Bayern — and previous club Barcelona — to City. He won six league titles in his seven years with the two clubs, as well as four domestic cups and two Champions League titles during his stint at the Nou Camp.
“I am absolutely excited about Pep joining our team, I consider Pep to be one of the best, if not the best, manager today in football,” said Al Mubarak.
“We are getting a manager that epitomises, in my view, passion and commitment. He’s a winner — a proven winner. He’s won professionally in every team he’s coached.
“His record at Bayern Munich and his record at Barcelona speak for itself. The trophies he’s won — he’s won every single club competition from the Champions League to La Liga to the Bundesliga to the respective cups in both leagues he’s played.
“We are getting a proven winner, we’re getting a passionate man. We’re getting someone I think will be an incredible asset to Manchester City and I have no doubt that he will transform our team to a whole new level.”
But Guardiola faces a major rebuilding job at City after they scraped into fourth place to clinch the final Champions League place by finishing above rivals Manchester United on goal difference.
His squad overhaul has already begun with the signing of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan for a reported £21 million (Dh111 million).
Al Mubarak also lauded the efforts of Guardiola’s predecessor Manuel Pellegrini, who exited after winning the Capital One Cup this season — his third trophy in three years. But the chairman admitted that last season was a massive disappointment with the Chilean’s side failing to mount a significant title challenge and only securing Champions League football on the final day of the season.
“There are a lot of achievements that have been made in those three years that I think we all have to recognise, by Manuel and the team around him. We should be thankful for those achievements,” said Al Mubarak.
“At the same time, I think we also can’t hide the disappointment particularly this year. We all had high expectations for this season and I think at the end of the day I cannot hide the disappointment of myself, obviously Shaikh Mansour, I know the fans of the club, and I’m sure the entire team.”
The Blues finished 15 points behind eventual champions Leicester City, whose Premier League title success was one of the biggest shocks in football history. Khaldoon hailed the Foxes and boss Claudio Ranieri for their astounding success and says City must try to emulate their passionate performances.
“As a football fan it’s an incredible achievement,” he added. “It’s something I am delighted for Leicester, for their fans, for everybody involved in that club.
“I take a lot from the passion they’ve shown. This was a team that from the first game of the season to the last game of the season, one thing you know is they gave it their all, every game.
“You have a team that fought hard, put in a lot of passion, a lot of commitment and you can see it in every game they played. Sometimes passion and commitment doesn’t win you trophies but certainly it pushes you to limits.”
