5 footballers who were not preferred by Pep Guardiola

There is no doubt that Pep Guardiola is among the best managers of all time. After all, winning the treble in his first season in charge of a senior side is a feat only the Spaniard has achieved. Guardiola’s achievements in such a short period of time is simply remarkable and that’s why many players are inclined towards working under him.

However, despite his credentials, there is one aspect of Guardiola’s management that has received plenty of criticism from various avenues, which is the way he deals with some of the star players of his side. This issue of his was brought to the fore right from his Barcelona days and he continues to do it at Bayern Munich.

If his track record is anything to go by, then some of the stars of Manchester City are in for a shock when Guardiola arrives in the summer.

Here are five players who weren’t preferred by the Spanish manager:

#1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Almost every manager in football and almost every team in the world would be happy to have a player of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s calibre in the team. The significance of the word ‘almost’ is huge because Ibrahimovic’s dream move to the Catalan club didn’t have a happy ending due to Pep Guardiola.

The Swede joined Barcelona from Inter Milan ahead of Guardiola’s second season in charge of the club and with Samuel Eto’o moving the opposite way, the charismatic forward was expected to lead the Barcelona attack.

However, Pep Guardiola had come up with some new ideas for the season and that eventually led to a very poor relationship between the player and the manager.

Guardiola moved Lionel Messi to his famous false-9 position even though Ibrahimovic had just signed for the club. Ibrahimovic started 36 games during the season and made 9 more substitute appearances, but even when he started, he was often taken off during many games.

This sort of treatment clearly didn’t go well with a star of his stature. Despite these problems, he scored 21 goals during the season including a winner against arch rivals Real Madrid.

The following season, David Villa joined Barcelona and it became clearer that Pep doesn’t want Ibrahimovic in the squad. The Swede was loaned to AC Milan for the season and the move was made permanent at the end of the loan spell.

Ibrahimovic being Ibrahimovic didn’t hold back on his feelings and went on to call Guardiola a ‘spineless coward’ in his autobiography.

#2. Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure has been a pivotal member of Manchester City’s squad since he joined them from Barcelona in 2010, but the same cannot be said of his role at Barcelona.

Toure joined the Spanish giants a year before Guardiola was appointed as the manager. During his first season with the club, he was a regular starter in league and European games, but that changed after the arrival of Guardiola.

Guardiola had worked with Barcelona’s youth team before he was appointed as the first team manager and because of his time with the youth squad, he was familiar with the abilities of Sergio Busquets. Busquets was thus given a major role in the first team under the new manager and because of the same, Toure’s game time dipped. On a few occasions, the Ivorian was even forced to play out of position in the heart of the defence and he operated in that role in the 2009 Champions League final.

During Toure’s final season with Barcelona, he found it even more difficult to get a regular spot in the team and was reduced to a mere squad player.

When Toure was asked about his departure in 2011, he had this to say: “Whenever I asked him something, he always gave strange answers. He pretty much ignored me until City's offer came in. That's why I eventually opted to leave. I didn't speak to Guardiola for a year.”

Now that City have announced Guardiola as their manager, it will only be a matter of time before Toure leaves the club.

#3. Mario Gotze

Mario Gotze’s departure to Bayern Munich was one of those transfers that was met with a lot of anger from the fans. It was not just the move that angered Borussia Dortmund fans, but also the timing of his announcement as it came just before Dortmund’s semi-final clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League.

It is said that one of the reasons why Gotze wanted to join the Bavarian club ahead of the 2013-14 season was the appointment of Pep Guardiola as Bayern’s new manager.

The former Golden Boy award winner had a fairly good start to his Bayern and won the domestic double in his first season. However, he was not a guaranteed starter at his new club as 15 of his 45 games during that season came off the bench. The situation was similar for Gotze at the end of his second season with the club.

The ongoing season was crucial for Gotze to keep his Bayern Munich spell moving forward, but the arrival of Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman has made it even more challenging for him to get playing time.

Guardiola now has most of his attacking players fit and available for selection and this has made Gotze’s situation worse. During Bayern’s clash with Juventus at the Allianz Arena, Guardiola turned to the relatively inexperienced Kingsley Coman to change the game in Bayern's favour while Gotze was on the bench. This is yet another indication of how badly he has fallen down the pecking order under Guardiola.

#4. Bastian Schweinsteiger

Some players like Steven Gerrard and Francesco Totti were born to play for their boyhood club. Bayern Munich have and had many such equivalents in their team and one of them was Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Schweinsteiger was a hero for the Bavarians and for German fans because of his never give up attitude, his charismatic personality and of course his performance. The German midfielder was the heart of the Bayern side that won the treble under Heynckes and he was expected to have a huge role under Guardiola as well.

Under Guardiola, Schweinsteiger had a decent first season despite some injury concerns. However, prior to the second season, Xabi Alonso arrived from Real Madrid and there were questions about the ability of Schweinsteiger and Alonso to play together. Alonso ended up having a terrific first season in Germany, while Schweinsteiger struggled with injuries and eventually played in only 28 games with a quarter of them coming off the bench. Even when he started games, he was regularly taken off by Guardiola.

Before the ongoing season kicked off, Bayern signed Arturo Vidal and this left space for only one of Alonso or Schweinsteiger in the team. Guardiola gave the green signal to sell the fan favourite Schweinsteiger who is nearly three years younger than Alonso and the decision to sell Schweinsteiger was obviously not taken well by the fans of Bayern Munich.

#5. Alexsandr Hleb

Alexsandr Hleb is one of many Arsenal stars to have made a direct move to Barcelona and like some of the others who made this move, Hleb too didn’t have a memorable time at the Nou Camp.

Hleb was signed in 2008 when Guardiola was appointed as the club’s manager. His fate at the club was evident from Guardiola’s early days as the Belarusian was rarely used by the manager. In March 2009, Hleb said that he doesn’t want to waste the best years of his career on the bench after starting just five La Liga games at that point. His little outburst didn’t have any impact as Guardiola continued to treat the player in the same manner.

At the end of the season, he made just 17 starts for the club and made 15 further appearances as a substitute in all competitions. He spent the next two seasons on loan before he was released in 2011.

Hleb clearly isn’t a fan of Guardiola and went on to say that the Spaniard is not the best manager in the world and the best managers are Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho.