When Pep Guardiola speaks, most people should listen. He's earnt his spot as a fountain of knowledge, his success speaks for itself.
It is perhaps even more appropriate now that Chelsea take his advice. Albeit a sense of fraternising with the enemy, Guardiola has nothing to gain from tricking Todd Boehly. The idea that his words would truly make an impact is unlikely anyway, but when a manager that has won four league titles in five years offers a pearl of wisdom, it's probably worth taking in, at least.
Not only does the Spaniard simply love football, almost to the point that bettering the league and those around him in competition is just as satisfying as beating teams week on week, he is a student of the game himself.
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Chelsea wanted Guardiola once, a mess that would have likely been. Guardiola's principles don't come overnight, would Roman Abramovich have allowed three matches to go on without the Champions League being won? That's the difference between then and now.
Such is the depth of experience of the Manchester City boss, he has now trained up Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal boss is top of the league, ahead of his Master. It's a current battle that is inescapably filled with narrative, and Rio Ferdinand asked Guardiola about the mentality and ability of Arteta back in 2019 - there is a Chelsea point in here to come.
Ferdinand said: "You've created a monster [in Mikel Arteta]." To which, Guardiola replied: "No, absolutely not. He was already. I know Mikel, they see him, the sporting director Edu and the club, how he works, we saw in the documentary. Rely on him. It's a process."
Three years later and the patience shown by Arsenal is bringing rewards. Senior players have been shipped off, young ones brought in, an ideology built and an atmosphere fostered, nurtured and created. In the Chelsea squad the only player that knows about that is Raheem Sterling, and he came from City.
Even Mason Mount, Reece James or N'Golo Kante haven't truly been part of a together group or a project at Chelsea, there's been successful teams, but nothing close to the stranglehold City have on domestic football currently.
So, when Guardiola effectively told Chelsea to stick by Graham Potter through the hard times, maybe he's right. Maybe a manager that finished below Antonio Conte's formerly 10th place Chelsea side and went 4-0 down to Leicester in his first season knows more about building than he's given credit.
Admittedly Guardiola was backed by having millions of pounds spent on fullbacks and goalkeepers, but Boehly is hardly shy of digging into his pockets. City have made a return in some way or another on most of their signings across the Guardiola tenure, even if they don't get sold on for more, they achieve and perform well enough to justify the transfer activity. That may well be an avenue Boehly goes down at Stamford Bridge.
If the American owners allow Potter to do that, Guardiola can imagine success coming their way. Speaking after the 2-0 Carabao Cup win, he said: "I smell and see what Graham Potter has done at Brighton and with the way they play, sooner or later it’s going to happen here at Chelsea and they will be a tough, tough opponent. It’s why I give us a lot of credit. We didn't win against a nobody, we won against a top, top team."
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