Manel Estiarte: The secret behind Pep Guardiola's success

Pep Guardiola is one of the hottest properties in football management right now. Having led Manchester City to a second consecutive Premiership title, the Catalan has established himself at the top of the football food chain.

But there's a little known figure behind Guardiola's success, a man who has followed the boss from Barcelona to Bayern Munich and then to Manchester City, sharing in all the highs and lows of Guardiola's career.

Manel Estiarte has been a member of Guardiola's technical staff throughout his career, following him from club to club. But this little known member of Pep's backroom staff has never played football at any level, instead excelling in another sport; water polo.

Estiarte was voted world's best player water polo player a total of seven times, winning multiple Olympic medals and being nicknamed "the Maradonna of water polo" by the adoring press. Guardiola greatly admired his fellow sportsman's achievements and the two became close during the Barcelona Olympics, as both players represented Spain in their respective sports. And when Guardiola began working for Barcelona in a coaching role, he offered Estiarte the chance to become his personal assistant at Barcelona.

It was the beginning of a strong working relationship, with Estiarte's natural charisma and organisational abilities proving invaluable. Originally, his job was simply to look after Guardiola, ensuring he had everything he needed and was well looked after. But soon, his responsibilities expanded to cover the rest of the club's staff, including coaches, players and any other technical employees.

At Manchester City, Estiarte holds the position of Head of Player Support and Protocol, providing a listening ear to any players who may have personal problems or issues with their training regime. As a former top-class athlete, Estiarte is able to tap into players' motivation, spurring them on to work past their problems and take their game to the next level.

Guardiola once described Estiarte as his "guardian angel", and acknowledges the crucial role the former water polo star has played in his managerial success. Estiarte even acquired lawyers who helped clear his boss of historic doping charges in 2009 and the two men are such good friends, they even take family holidays together.