Pep Guardiola has suggested Ilkay Gundogan as the likeliest member of his current Manchester City squad to go on and become a manager.
The Spaniard has seen a number of players he has coached go on to become managers, including Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht and Thierry Henry, who used to be in charge of Monaco and the Montreal Impact.
Perhaps the most prominent recent example is Xavi, with the former Barcelona midfielder succeeding Ronald Koeman at the helm of the Catalan club in November of last year.
Guardiola made a swift step-up into top level management, taking the top job at Barcelona in 2008 just two years after his playing career concluded.
He enjoyed immediate success, winning an historic treble in his first season at the Nou Camp.
The 51-year-old believes that players in the centre of the park have the best chance to become managers.
“Midfield players,” Guardiola told Sky Sports News when asked which players in his current squad are most likely to become managers.
“I think [Ilkay] Gundogan would be [one]. There are many players who after they [retire], they get bored being at home with nothing to do, and after they become a manager.
“But I think midfield players have the chance to be managers - I think that players who think about the game as football as a global [game], not just think ‘me, me, me’.
“When these guys start to understand the game as a group, as a whole, they have the challenge to be a manager.”
Gundogan has previously spoken of a desire to test himself as a coach when his playing career finishes.
The German has worked under Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel and thinks that the knowledge he has accumulated under three Champions League winners could be beneficial.
“The fact is that with Pep, Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, I’ve had pretty much the best coaches in club football so far,” Gundogan told Goal and SPOX in 2019.
“You learn a lot and think about how you can pass on this knowledge after your career.”
