7 things you probably did not know about Pep Guardiola

Outgoing Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola is without doubt one of the most distinguished figures of the modern game. Having established himself as an intelligent defensive midfielder at FC Barcelona after having risen through the ranks of La Masia, Guardiola eventually took over the club as manager in 2008, winning an unprecedented 14 trophies in four years including two Champions League titles.He then proceeded to take over Bayern Munich in 2013, and has won two consecutive Bundesliga titles at the time of writing, with a good chance of winning another. Despite having lived a life of intense scrutiny, first as Barcelona captain, and then as manager of two high-profile clubs, some interesting nuggets of Guardiola’s life have often escaped the public eye.We look at seven of them.

#1 Rejected Barcelonas initial offer to sign him

Having drawn attention for his control and vision from a fairly young age in his native village of Santpedor in Catalonia, Guardiola first trialled with Barcelona aged 11 in 1982. Failing to impress in his first two trials playing out wide, he caught the eye of the club’s scouts in his third trial in his natural position as a pivote, culminating in an offer to join the ranks of La Masia.

However, Guardiola’s father Valenti noted that the young Pep was struggling to cope up with the rigorous trial routine and turned increasingly quieter travelling back to Santpedor. Worried about his ability to adjust to the new surroundings at that age, the Guardiolas decided to refuse the offer.

Pep eventually joined the club when an offer came around for the second time in 1984, even confiding to biographer Guillem Balague that he had decided not to pursue a career in football if the second offer had never arrived.

#2 Proposed as the clubs sporting director in 2003

While playing in Italy in 2003, Guardiola was contacted by socio Luis Bassat with the Barcelona presidential elections looming. Having outlined his vision for the elections, Bassat wished that Guardiola become the club’s sporting director if voted into power, and asked for his support even as former teammates Luis Enrique, Andoni Zubizarreta and former manager Johan Cruyff were supporting Joan Laporta.

Guardiola agreed to the proposal on the condition that Bassat made no promises to sign particular players as part of his campaign – an electoral tactic Pep despised.

But Bassat eventually finished second to Cruyff-backed Laporta in the elections, who had notably promised to sign David Beckham. Laporta’s team, with Txiki Begiristain as sporting director, were eventually key to making Guardiola the manager of Barça B in 2007, before he took over the reins of the first team in 2008.

#3 Peter Crouch was his favourite English player

In an interview with The Sun in 2006, when asked about his favourite English player, Guardiola sprang up a surprise by nominating then-Liverpool striker Peter Crouch as his favourite. He picked the tall, lanky striker ahead of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

Guardiola went on to praise the extra dimension Crouch brought with his game, labelling the same as an asset to any side. The endorsement did not exactly set Crouch’s career ablaze, but it is hard not to link this reasoning to Guardiola’s subsequent interest in Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Barcelona manager, with the Swede also being brought in to give Barça an extra aerial dimension up front.

Ibrahimovic would spend only one season before moving to AC Milan at a loss, while Crouch would only fall down the pecking order, moving to Tottenham and Stoke City, without any offers forthcoming from other leagues.

#4 Trialled with Manchester City in 2005

Manchester City’s long-standing interest in Pep Guardiola, with bookmakers widely anointing him as a favourite to take over from Manuel Pellegrini, is all the more interesting due to the fact that Guardiola nearly joined the club in 2005, albeit as a player.

Looking to wind down his career having returned from Qatari club Al-Ahli in 2005, Guardiola rejected interest from Manchester United and Chelsea, eventually trialling at Eastlands (now the Etihad Stadium) for 10 days, as City manager Stuart Pearce looked to sign him on a six-month contract.

The move eventually fell through, with Guardiola left unimpressed by the personal terms offered, and he soon joined close friend Juanma Lillo at Mexican side Dorados before calling time on his playing career in 2006.

#5 Banned for substance abuse in Italy

During his first stint at Brescia, Guardiola tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone after a game against Piacenza. A second test two weeks later, after a 5-0 defeat to Lazio, returned the same result, with two nano-grammes of nandrolone found in his bloodstream, leaving Guardiola with a four month ban despite vehement protests.

He was eventually cleared of all charges in 2007, when it was discovered that the human body is capable of producing up to nine nano-grammes on its own.

The Italian National Olympic Committee, however, would only accept the argument in 2009, giving Guardiola a clean chit during his landmark year as Barcelona manager.

#6 Wanted to join Juventus upon leaving Barcelona in 2001

Guardiola idolised Michel Platini as a youngster, modelling his game on the former France and Juventus midfielder as a trainee at La Masia. He even had his poster in his bedroom as a kid. Upon attracting interest from Italy when he decided to leave Barcelona in 2001, Guardiola himself wanted a move to Juventus.

The Turin outfit, then managed by Carlo Ancelotti, contacted Guardiola and his agent Josep Maria Orobitg, with the duo even travelling to Italy for advanced negotiations. A deal was agreed in principle to take Guardiola to Juventus, only for the club to do a volte-face and deny the occurrence of any negotiations when Ancelotti was sacked and Marcello Lippi took over.

Rather than earmark Guardiola as a replacement for the outgoing Zinedine Zidane or view him as a probable asset alongside Antonio Conte and Alessandro del Piero, Lippi opted to use the funds from the Zidane transfer to build a younger team, signing Pavel Nedved, Lillian Thuram and Gianluigi Buffon, as Guardiola moved to Brescia.

#7 Was offered a youth-team post when he quit Barcelona

If the Barcelona hierarchy had had their way, Guardiola would have remained in the club system when he announced his desire to quit in 2012. Having confided to sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta that he was walking away due to a lack of hunger, Guardiola caused instant concern in the Barcelona administrative hierarchy who were not willing to lose the man.

Zubizarreta, a former teammate, understanding that Pep probably wanted time away from the spotlight, informally proposed that the latter take over any coaching vacancy with one of the club’s youth teams till he felt fit to take over again.

However, as Guardiola’s biography notes, he ignored the proposal, and eventually opted to take a sabbatical in Manhattan upon leaving the club at the end of the season.