Pep Guardiola knows a thing or two about working with famous number 10s and the important decision he made over Jack Grealish coming up two years ago might finally help the Manchester City manager end one last-standing hoodoo in his record-breaking coaching career.
With countless pots and pans in the trophy cabinet, Guardiola has nothing left to prove in the dugout and the way in which he has won has helped to revolutionise the modern game. However, there is always one dissenter waiting to drive home their agenda based on a weighted, or irrelevant, point.
It defies logic that Guardiola has not won the Champions League for 12 years - yet that is the truth and the Catalan has still to clasp his hands on the biggest prize in Europe without a certain Lionel Messi in his ranks. For the record, Messi won it once pre- and post-Guardiola while at Barcelona.
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City are two matches away from winning a historic treble this season and, no matter what else he has to his name, Guardiola will no doubt see that as the crowing glory. It will certainly silence any lingering doubters.
Erling Haaland and his goal-den touch has been fundamental to that ongoing charge, but the upturn and increased importance placed on Grealish cannot be discounted. He will forever carry the £100million tag, but two further wins and the England playmaker might well seem a bargain in the grand scheme.
Guardiola and Grealish - as well as the entire City squad - are potentially 180 minutes away from immortality and it would be impossible not to draw on trends between now and their last Champions League showpiece appearance. On that occasion, it was not meant to be as City turned to the chequebook to drown out their sorrows.
At a time when it might have gone to then-targets Harry Kane or Messi instead, Grealish was assigned the number 10 shirt by City after Guardiola went heavy-handed for him after the Chelsea loss; not Kane, not Messi - both whom could be on the move this summer, incidentally.
Speaking about Grealish at the time, Guardiola said: "He will have the number 10 shirt because we were incredibly convinced with Jack Grealish and were convinced Leo would continue at Barcelona. We signed Jack and [thought] Messi would continue there, we believed Jack would be perfect for us.
"For the age, for the quality, he will be an incredible player for the next five or six years. He's got many mates here who know him and we'll create the right environment for him to express his talent.
"We believe we've got an incredible talent - not just the skills but the mentality - and he now has the best years in his career [ahead]. He made an exceptional contribution at Aston Villa and he can get to another level with us."
Guardiola believed and Grealish has gone to that next level. It has been far from plain-sailing for the playmaker or even his manager along the way, but there might be another monumental step to come.
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