A wonderful statistic emerged on Sunday, just as Phil Foden was completing his hat-trick in the Manchester derby.
Foden, at 22 years and 127 days old, had become the youngest player to reach a half-century of goals under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola. By 35 days, or 840 hours, or 50,400 minutes – however you prefer to look at it – Foden beat a record set by Lionel Messi, who was 22 years and 162 days when he reached 50 under Guardiola at Barcelona.
Messi was, of course, well-established by the time Guardiola took over in 2008, but it’s nonetheless quite some achievement by the young Manchester City forward that points to a tantalising future, for club and country.
And this is where I will place on record my humble acceptance that, like the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, I got it so badly wrong… I wrote in this column three years ago that Foden’s career was being held back by Guardiola, that it was time for him to leave City and forge a path elsewhere, like his former youth team-mate Jadon Sancho. I get it and I have listened. Guardiola was clearly onto something.
Who would have thought that the most successful football manager on the planet knew more about nurturing a talent he described as the best player he had ever coached than a then-32-year-old football correspondent?
Building around a young Messi, Guardiola assembled what is frequently argued as the greatest team in history. A team’s personnel and formation is never fixed over a season, but that Barcelona side, who by 2009 had won Spain’s first ever treble, was largely based around Victor Valdes in goal, a defence of Carlos Puyol, Yaya Touré, Gerard Pique and Sylvinho. The midfield trio were Sergio Busquets behind Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Then Messi, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry, from right to left in attack.
By 2011, the team had evolved to include Dani Alves, Javier Mascherano and Eric Abidal in defence with Pique. David Villa and Pedro had joined Messi in the front three.
After adding Erling Haaland to the squad and the striker’s phenomenal transition into English football, how far away are this City side to those peak Guardiola-Barcelona years?
Alas, it doesn’t appear as though Haaland will trouble Foden’s recently acquired record. Haaland, as of today 22 years and 75 days old, has only 52 days to break it, and needs another 32 goals. His scoring rate of a goal every 3.6 days, while impressive, means it would still take him 115.2 days to match it. (He might argue if the games came quick enough, he’d do it.)
At Barcelona, Guardiola had a young Messi and a young Busquets he had promoted from the academy. At City, he also has two generational talents, in Foden and Haaland. Two players that, bar injury or freak accident, will be frequently vying for the Ballon d’Or for years to come.
Guardiola has a multitude of players to fit alongside the pair in a front three. He has Kevin De Bruyne who, even at 31, still has several years ahead as the human embodiment of a sewing machine in central midfield. He has a strong, versatile defence and a brilliant goalkeeper.
Guardiola’s contract is up next summer and it will be a hot topic of discussion as the season wears on, until it is resolved either way. Questions have already been asked, and responded to with typically vague answers. Naturally, City would love him to stay at the Etihad Stadium.
But surely being currently in possession of all the components to rival his Barcelona 2009, with the opportunity to further mould the team in the years ahead, will be too enticing an opportunity to turn down? Surely it will be impossible to hand over the reins while he takes time off to play chess with Garry Kasparov in New York.
This squad, and the shifting variations of it over the next three to four years, will win plenty under most appropriately experienced managers. But none will be able to orchestrate it, to bend it to their will, to have it playing in such perfect harmony, as Guardiola can.
For a coach who has achieved so much in the game, in multiple countries, is the dynasty the next frontier for him? Sure, you can do it in four years in Spain, three in Germany and seven in England, but can you do it for 27?
In an age when the chances of a multi-decade manager emerging are so minuscule, is that not the logical next step for a 51-year-old who has won virtually everything, everywhere, to prove he is the undisputed?
Only Guardiola will know what’s going on in Guardiola’s head: how he feels, his ambitions and appetite, whether the hunger and burning desire to push on remains.
But you read it here first: in my opinion, all the stars are – literally and metaphorically – aligning for him to commit to several more years. And I never get them wrong…
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