What happened to 5 Man Utd players who impressed Guardiola – with two leaving
Pep Guardiola is a pretty good judge of a player – and the Manchester City manager has previously showered praise on some from across the city’s divide.
Guardiola has coached some of the world’s very best during his spells in charge at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, so when he talks most people listen. He has been supremely successful since joining City in July 2016 but has still suffered his fair share of losses.
One of those came against Manchester United in the second leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final in January 2020. United came away from the Etihad Stadium with a 1-0 win and, although it wasn’t enough for a place in the final, having lost the first leg 3-1, it was enough for five of their players to earn praise from Guardiola.
A team containing Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Rodri were beaten by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side that day. And while five of United’s starting line-up from that day remain at the club under Erik ten Hag, five have moved on. Here Mirror Football takes a look at those picked out by Guardiola for their performances.
Harry Maguire
Maguire played in the centre of a back three against City that day and was described as “one of the best central defenders in the world” by Guardiola post-match. That review came less than six months after United paid £80million to sign Maguire from Leicester and underlined his status at the time.
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How things change. Maguire has gone from commanding a then-world-record transfer fee for a defender to slipping down the pecking order at the club. Ten Hag has made it clear he prefers Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane and his future at the club has been questioned a lot of late.
Nevertheless, Maguire remains at United and has enjoyed a mini resurgence of late, with Martinez and Varane struggling for fitness. He also remains a first-choice pick for Gareth Southgate with England and is set to start at Euro 2024 next summer.
Harry Maguire was at his peak in January 2020 (Simon Stacpoole/Getty Images)Luke Shaw
Shaw is an “incredible type of player” according to Guardiola and he has been sorely missed by United this season due to injury. The left-back is now United’s longest-serving player, having joined the club from Southampton for £30m back in 2014.
There have been ups and downs (I’m looking at your Jose Mourinho), but the 28-year-old is now established as a key senior player under Ten Hag, who trusted him to play centre-back last season.
Victor Lindelof
Victor Lindelof was praised by Pep Guardiola (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)Lindelof has been with United since 2017 and, now 29, he has made 246 appearances for the club. A dependable player, the Swedish international has been called upon by Mourinho, Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Ten Hag across a variety of positions in defence. Lindelof’s contract will expire next June, meaning that his time at the club could be coming to an end soon.
Fred
A £52m signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, Fred was for a long time seen as an example of United’s poor recruitment. The Brazilian midfielder took a long time to establish himself in the United side, with mistakes seeing him jumped upon by supporters.
He eventually became more trusted in the middle of the park and made 213 appearances, contributing 14 goals and 19 assists before he was sold to Fenerbahce in the summer. He has already made a decent impression in Turkey, recording five assists in 14 games for the club.
Nemanja Matic
“Matic and Fred, they are incredible players,” Guardiola said that day. “Matic is an outstanding player. In time, they will do it and be back to what United was for many years." That prediction never came true for United and Matic has since followed Fred out of the door.
The experienced midfielder joined up with his Chelsea and United manager Mourinho at Roma in 2022 but lasted only one year in the Italian capital. The 35-year-old now plays for Rennes in Ligue 1.
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