#2 Pep needs technically good footballers to really implement his style
It is all well and good talking about tiki-taka, dominating possession and pressing the lives out of opponents – but such a style inevitably needs the players to go with it. At Barcelona, Guardiola had a steady stream of talent pouring in from the academy level.
He was almost spoilt for choice, to the extent that a certain Alexis Sanchez (mooted now as his primary transfer target) often had to be overlooked due to the competition for places. The sight of Guardiola labouring on the touchlines in an attempt to coax tiki-taka out of Caballero, Clichy, Otamendi et al is really disheartening.
He is often accused of being an elitist manager. But if there can be managers who thrive in defying relegation, why can't there be managers who specialise on the other end of football hierarchy? Guardiola needs to stop pretending; there are only a handful of players in the world who can implement the football of his dreams. He may as well go to the club that promises him the best chance of it.
