Vincent Kompany has pleaded with Pep Guardiola to stop anointing him as the next Manchester City manager.
The two City legends meet in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday when Kompany takes his runaway Championship leaders Burnley to the Etihad.
The City manager has repeatedly tipped Kompany as his replacement although the timing of his latest endorsement seemed to momentarily fluster his former captain.
“He’s got to stop saying it,” joked Kompany. “I’m a Championship manager. I don’t know what you want from me.
“I keep saying, he is trying to win the Champions League, I am trying to win the Championship, so I don’t think those kind of conversations make sense.
“I think he should stay for another 10 years at Manchester City, first and foremost. They need to have the best manager of the world. I want to be extremely respectful to the club I manage as well. This club to me means everything. I want this club to get better.”
Kompany will get a hero’s welcome at Manchester City, but the “new” model is already in full working order.
Guardiola will head the queue of people wanting to show their appreciation but he is certain that in Ruben Dias he has found the ideal man to take over his mantle as captain, inspiration and motivator.
Dias has been a cornerstone of two successive Premier League titles for the Blues, and since his return from a hamstring injury he picked up at the World Cup, has been a key reason Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in nine games.
The similarities between the two centre-backs are glaring, Guardiola believes, saying: “He (Dias) has the ability to see and solve the problems for many, many things. His character is so important.
“You should see the impact he makes before the game, at half time, and after the game, and when he doesn’t play, game by game by game. He behaves the same when he doesn’t play, and that makes you deserve to be captain. His character and leadership are really, really important.
“He never complains, has the same methodology and work ethic when playing and training, always arriving two hours before and leaving two hours after, nothing changes. He lives 24 hours for his profession.”
Inside Kompany’s Burnley revolution
By Mark Douglas, i‘s northern football correspondent
A brilliant player and hugely promising coach, those close to Kompany insist he is an even better man.
Kompany has a masters degree in business, speaks seven languages, manages an extensive property portfolio and has raised millions to combat homelessness in Manchester through his Tackle4Mcr initiative. He is a man of integrity and conviction.
Those values have made him a good fit at Burnley. “He’s definitely got something very, very special,” Alastair Campbell tells i.
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor wears many hats these days – author, podcaster, acerbic critic of the Conservative Government. But as a passionate supporter of Burnley and a man who literally wrote the book on leadership, he is well placed to offer insight into what makes Kompany such a natural manager.
“A few years ago I went to Manchester City to interview Raheem Sterling for GQ and Vicky Kloss [City’s former chief communications officer] was looking after me,” he recalls.
“After I’d spoken to Raheem, Vincent Kompany was still there after everyone else had left and I had a very brief chat with him.
“I remember really well that Vicky said two things to me after that. The first was that Vincent was the nicest bloke you’ll ever meet and the second was that he’s just got an aura about him and leads by example.”
Read Mark’s big read in full here
Kompany was hugely influential off the field, as well as being a talisman and important player on it, and Dias has the same qualities, says Guardiola.
“It’s not just about ‘me’ or what he has to do, it’s always about the team and being that when the player isn’t happy,” he added.
“Body language and gestures are so important in football, and always since day one he has been there, always positive, always thinking of the next action, forget the mistake or the bad moments.
“He is always there for the next one, so positive. His mentality is top of the top, and that’s why he can play as central defender in a top, top club like Manchester City.”
Guardiola predicted recently that Kompany would manage City one day, and said that having studied Burnley this week, he is more convinced than ever.
He said: “A man who gets good results week in, week out, it’s because you have something. You cannot be consistent unless there’s work behind it, and it’s solid.
“You have bad moments because you get result after result, and it’s all winning, winning, winning and that means a lot of work on the pitch and behind the scenes.”
With additional reporting from Stuart Brennan.
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