England desperately want Pep Guardiola as their next coach, so some players will celebrate the latest update on the search for Gareth Southgate’s successor.
The FA seem to have landed on Thomas Tuchel, much to the possible disappointment of some Guardiola-supporting players. This lot will be relieved if the Spaniard does not end up in charge.
Kalvin Phillips
While most Manchester City players would inevitably welcome Guardiola’s ascent to the England throne, not all those with an Etihad contract would relish the appointment of such a familiar face as coach. The international career of Kalvin Phillips is in enough of a state and the FA coaxing their dream candidate would somehow make it worse.
Phillips has spoken in glowing terms of Guardiola’s tactical acumen but even when biting his tongue has struggled to disguise his “frustration” at public comments the manager made concerning the midfielder’s weight during his debut season.
Guardiola has long since apologised but Phillips said it affected his “confidence” and even remains a point of discussion with prospective new teams two years later.
The issue was ultimately one of incompatibility. They were not a good fit and it happens. Since joining Manchester City, Phillips has started more Premier League games for both his loan clubs (three for West Ham; four for Ipswich) than his parent one (two). And any distant hope he has of reviving his England career would be decimated by Guardiola’s appointment.
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Jadon Sancho
It is difficult to think of many players whose past working relationship with Guardiola would count against them when looking through the England prism. Phillips feels like an exception at least in terms of disagreements played out in front of the media. Even those the Manchester City manager has sold left amicably; Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer were given the Spaniard’s blessing to leave in search of regular minutes.
That was ostensibly the reason Sancho first left the Premier League. There was more than a hint of the old Guardiola passive-aggression when he wished the Manchester City academy graduate “the best” after explaining how he had rejected a lucrative professional contract and skipped training for three weeks before joining Borussia Dortmund.
Guardiola has been happy to talk about an “exceptional player” in the years since but has steadfastly denied any “regret” on his part for how things turned out, even when Sancho was flourishing in the Bundesliga.
An England return has been broached – Lee Carsley has suggested Sancho needs to find “a home where he feels rated, he feels loved” – but Guardiola is not one to forget those sorts of perceived attitude issues.
Luke Shaw
The players to start a Premier League fixture at left-back for Manchester City over the past two seasons share a common characteristic: they are not left-backs. Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva have been used there by Guardiola since 2022/23 but none would name it as their strongest position.
That pivot to focus on building around “proper defenders” who can be relied upon to win their individual duels is a stark contrast to Guardiola’s second summer transfer window at the Etihad. The club spent £120m on specialist full-backs in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo. It is testament to Walker that he remains a trusted Pep lieutenant seven years later but even his freakish physicality and usefulness is fading towards retirement.
Guardiola’s brand of positional play has moved further than ever before from traditional full-backs and it spells particularly bad news for a) those not versatile enough to play in two or three other positions, and b) anyone prone to injury.
Shaw has proven himself a decent centre-half, but not nearly good enough to warrant a squad place, nor to offset his increasing physical unreliability. Levi Colwill had better get used to playing on the left.
Conor Gallagher
“I can’t feel my legs,” said Gallagher after a tireless 90 minutes spent helping repel whatever Manchester City could muster to throw at Crystal Palace in March 2022. It was not even the midfielder’s best performance against the champions that season: his goal and assist secured a famous victory at the Etihad a few months prior.
Guardiola will appreciate the industrious stylings of a player like Gallagher but it is difficult to see where someone so ultimately limited in possession fits in a team almost guaranteed to dominate the ball. Chelsea are trying to model their approach on Manchester City and they saw no place in their side for the 24-year-old, who only exacerbated England’s problems during Euro 2024.
Diego Simeone is the perfect manager for Gallagher; Guardiola might be the least harmonious union imaginable.
Dominic Solanke
It can only be hoped that one day we witness the composition of an international Guardiola squad. England have spent the past few years waiting patiently to see whether Trent Alexander-Arnold will be categorised in this camp as a ‘defender’ or a ‘midfielder’ but the fluid nature of positions under the Spaniard should provide a fair few talking points long before a ball is even kicked.
The feeling is that traditional centre-forwards might be among the biggest losers. Guardiola finds room for the very best – Your Haalands, Your Agueros, Your Lewandowskis, Your Kanes – but three or more being picked at once would be a rare occurrence.
Carsley made a mistake in trying to exhibit England’s central attacking depth against Greece, but only because it was a tactic which probably required more than 20 minutes’ practice. Even in the realm of more conventional options, Ollie Watkins beats Solanke on most fronts.
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