Manchester City are at the peak of their powers as a club.
From top to bottom, City are run in such a way that several of even Europe’s top clubs would aspire to; with Manchester United also appointing their former employees in Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox.
Pep Guardiola is at the helm for this Manchester City side — a manager who continues to raise the bar tactically, in terms of how much silverware he accrues and the standards he sets season after season.
As a squad, not only do City have some of the best players in the world but also figures who never seem to rest on their laurels and care deeply about raising their standards as individuals but as a collective.
With such factors in place, it is no coincidence that come what may, the English giants have succeeded during Guardiola’s reign.
It is difficult to pinpoint one factor that has singlehandedly led to them emerging as an elite club.
As Nottingham Forest’s Murillo claimed, City is the dream destination for every player alongside Real Madrid nowadays.
But at the forefront of the club’s ascent lies Pep Guardiola.
Under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, while the Sky Blues tasted success, clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich were still considered the cream of the crop of European football.
Bent makes fresh Pep Guardiola claim
However, since Pep Guardiola’s arrival, things have taken a drastic turn for the better for Manchester City.
So much so that in May, Stephen Warnock told Sky Sports that this City side is the greatest-ever in Premier League history,
As brilliant as Mancini and Pellegrini’s title-winning teams were in 2012 and 2014 respectively, such claims would perhaps not be made about them.
When quizzed about how much Darren Bent would pay to appoint Manchester City’s head honcho Pep Guardiola on talkSPORT, he replied: “A lot, break the bank, mate, whole budget.”
Andy Goldstein asked Bent: “Would you pay £200 million?”
The pundit instantly replied he would pay £200 million, saying: “Yeah.”
Goldstein asked again: “Would you?”
Darren Bent said: “You have to.”
Pep Guardiola can transform a club like not many players can
Ultimately, Pep Guardiola brings a level of unique genius to any club that can be transformative in a way that even some of the players in the world cannot.
The £378,846-a-week man’s tactical ideas seem to set the tone for how much of world football play their games; an impact no single player can have.
As a result, Guardiola ensures that any team he manages remain a step ahead of the curve.
By the time a majority of teams seem to adapt to the Catalan’s ideas, he either reverts back to his older tactical fundamentals or conjures up his next masterplan.
With Pep Guardiola’s presence also being a major reason why players sign for the clubs he manages as well as the respect he commands from any dressing room, Darren Bent’s claim is understandable as £200 million would be the fee that would be demanded for one of, if not the outright best player in the world.