After a whole -handed season, what is Pep Guardiola's reaction? Return the apparatus? Give new tactical ideas? Are not. He … spent money.
There is nothing more to say about the 2024/25 season. It was a complete failure, which Guardiola himself had to admit that “never had a worse season.”
No Champions League. No FA Cup. No carabao cup. In the Premier League, City is also knocked out of the top 2, and to the last rounds to know there will be tickets to the Champions League next season.
The reaction of Guardiola after failure? Buy, buy and buy more.
In fact, Guardiola began to buy in January, spending tons on Omar Marmous (70 million euros), Abdukodir Khusanov (40 million) and Vitor Reis (35 million). In June, he shopped again, this time “crazy” equally.
In just a week, Guardiola finalized four applications: Tijjani Reijnders from Milan, Rayan Cherki from Lyon, Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves and Marcus Bettinelli from Chelsea. And certainly Man City will not stop there.
Talking about Guardiola, there are still two streams of public opinion. A assertion he is a tactical genius, worthy of being recognized as one of the greatest coaches in history.
But the other stream thinks that Guardiola is simply fortunate. He came to Barca at the right time when this team had the strongest squad in history, and from those successes, he put himself in the position to choose the best stops, from Bayern Munich to Man City.
But at this time, it seems that the second thread is winning. The fact that Man City played badly in the season that Pep admitted to being “lack of preparation” showed that he turned out to be … usually. And what Guardiola is doing more and more.
Instead of spinning the new pieces to adapt to the reality of the opponent teams increasingly easy to catch Man City, he chose to build a … new squad. Of course he could only do it thanks to the almost no bottomless pocket of the Arab bosses.
Interestingly, no one seems to ask what Guardiola has been doing. Imagine another coach also spend money crazy like the Spanish coach, what will the reaction of the public be like? Definitely not as silent as Pep.
It seems that Guardiola has reached the position that what he did was automatically considered truth, no one could question or wonder. Because it was Pep, no matter what he did, people still nodded: “He knows what he is doing.”
But looking closely, it was obviously the truth of … rich. It is like the majority will say “do not teach the rich money” when someone dares to have an opinion on how the billionaires spend, despite the fact that the billionaires also have incomprehensible burning money.
However, Guardiola understands more than anyone else that his position is not the same as the billionaires. The billionaires that burn money are also burning their money (or from investors who believe in their intelligence). But Guardiola is burning money from others, of the bosses.
And despite showing great patience, the bosses at Etihad knew that everything was limited. Both budget, time and patience.
Pep Guardiola is still great. But this season, his greatness will be placed on a thin blade. Even “stripped naked”, if the money did not know how to dance …
* Do you have a similarity that if you don't spend a lot of money, Pep Guardiola is also … usually?
