Pep Guardiola on why Man Utd-linked Erik ten Hag would be a great fit for Man City manager’s role instead

Pep Guardiola described Erik ten Hag as an ‘incredible person’ and said the Ajax manager would be a good fit to replace him when he decides to leave Manchester City.

Ten Hag has been heavily linked with the Manchester United position, with reports this week suggesting he’s favourite to take over from Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season.

Guardiola knows the Dutchman well from his time as Bayern Munich manager, which coincided with Ten Hag’s stint as coach of the second team.

With the prospect of potentially facing one of his proteges next season in the Premier League, Guardiola was asked for his views on Ten Hag and his managerial credentials.

“When he was at Bayern at the second team, we spoke quite regularly,” said the City manager, ahead of Saturday’s clash with Burnley.

“He is an incredible person. For the quality he has, just take a look at Ajax in the last years. They are a joy to watch in many things. They got to the semi-finals [of the Champions League] one year and on little details didn’t make the final.

“The game they played against Benfica [in the Champions League this season] was exceptional, but football works like this.

“Just take a look at his teams,” he added.

“To define a manager you just have to take a look at his teams for a long time and this is a team where their manager makes them play. There’s no doubt about that. But the relationship we had was incredibly good.”

After such lavish praise, Guardiola was then quizzed on whether Ten Hag would be a good fit to one day replace him at City, to which he responded: “Yeah, definitely he could be here. He could be one, for the way he approaches the game. Yeah, definitely.”

Would Ten Hag work for United?

Guardiola knows all too well about the scepticism that can meet foreign managers when they first arrive in the Premier League, and the 51-year-old was often criticised during his first season in England.

However, Guardiola has gone on to collect three league titles since then, and could add a fourth by the end of the current campaign.

But asked if Ten Hag would adapt well to the Premier League, the City chef replied: “Nobody knows. If I knew for 100% sure I would go to Man United and tell them ‘guys, you have to take him’. But nobody knows.

“But the previous managers since Sir Alex [Ferguson] left, you cannot say that David Moyes is not a proper manager, or Louis van Gaal or Jose Mourinho, or right now. All the managers that have been at United have been excellent.”