Manchester City have been crowned Champions of England and Pep Guardiola became the first Spanish manager ever to win the Premier League title. A setting tale of what one of the finest teams in England can achieve when they are headed by a tactical perfectionist.
The Citizens have run breezed past the local competition in and have successfully registered a double. They are still within touching distance of breaking all three of Chelsea’s records in the English top flight – the highest number of points registered (95), the highest wins registered (31) and the highest number of goals scored (103).
It is clear that Guardiola has answered most of his critics and have settled into English football in illustrious fashion. However, some might still raise doubts over his European pedigree mostly delving from his humiliating defeat to Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals by a 5-1 aggregate scoreline.
To some the Premier League trophy might be the greatest honour a manager can win with an English club but achieving glory all over the continent sometimes marks the true abilities of a great coach. Guardiola has experienced the same during his time with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich and has been tasked with the same job by the bosses at Etihad.
City plans on building a legacy in English football and wants to escape the century-long shadows of their next-door rivals, Manchester United themselves. They have adapted the heavy-investment approach and have left no stones unturned in their pursuit.
And now it all depends on the coach they have appointed to get the job done. Guardiola still plans on tinkering with the current squad despite having world-class talents already.
He should consider making an official approach to AS Monaco for Kylian Mbappe. The Frenchman’s £167m move to Paris Saint-Germain seems to be up in the clouds due to an ongoing Financial Fair Play investigation with the Ligue 1 champions.
Mbappe could be an ideal fit in the final third and put the side over the top in terms of attacking quality. Raheem Sterling might have improved significantly under Guardiola but the Englishman still falls short in major occasions.
The Sky Blues should also rival the interests of United for the Brazilian defensive midfielder, Fred. While Fernandinho has been outstanding this season, it is almost inhumane to ask the 32-year-old to play over 50 games in a single season and perform on a consistent basis.
The third and most important out of all the shoulds is developing the youth squad. Guardiola has been heavily criticised this season and he might just have deserved every word of it.
City should take a page out of Ferguson’s style of management and heavily concern themselves with the youngsters coming out of the academy. They have created the perfect facility and have already produced quality prospects like Phil Foden, Brahim Diaz and on-loan Sporting Gijon fullback, Pablo Maffeo.
The best way is to start implementing them more into regular team football rather than solely depending on big-money transfers every season. Barcelona’s La Masia have produced more than half of the players in the starting lineup, Real Madrid have already benefited from talents like Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, Raúl, Nacho Fernández, Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Morata over the past decade and currently featuring youngsters like Borja Mayoral and Achraf Hakimi heavily into the squad.
Read More: Manchester City Looking To Make A Swoop For 19 Y/O Ligue 1 Star: Should Pep Make It Happen?
Premier League breeds the toughest competition in all of Europe and every manager is bound to get challenged no matter how strong his squad might be. It is always easy to deal with the obstacles with a strong core of players developed under the manager’s system.
