Pep Guardiola: Is it all money or pure genius?

After almost seven years of grinding, Pep Guardiola has finally been able to win the Champions League with Manchester City. And not just that, he has made the Sky Blues a treble winner. Only the second English team to do so, replicating the success of their not-so-friendly neighbour, Manchester United. 

And inevitably, with 115 financial breaches against Manchester City the question arises, did Pep actually achieve it or did he buy it? Let's dig deep into the argument and find out the truth.

Even before becoming the manager of Manchester City, Guardiola was hailed as one of the greatest managers ever to be involved with the game. Thanks to his success with Barcelona, where he won 14 titles in four years. Among them are three league titles and two Champions League titles. The most incredible thing is that he only came to professional coaching in 2008, and Barcelona was his first ever big project. He won a treble in his first season in top flight football. How amazing is that? 

In his four-year tenure at Barcelona, Guardiola had spent a total of £289.5 million. Delivering 14 titles along the way and making Barcelona one of the most successful clubs in the 21st century. 

After Barcelona, Guardiola went to Germany to face new challenges. With Bayern Munich, he won three league titles in a row. Well, who wouldn't do that with Bayern Munich, right? Bayern has now won 11 league titles in a row. So, it isn't that big of an achievement. Actually, Guardiola failed to deliver the most desired trophy in Munich, which is obviously the Champions League. He got knocked-out of the semi-finals three times in three seasons. In Munich, he has spent a total of £175 million. Which is completely normal for a club like Bayern. 

Guardiola has always had to face the assumption that he wouldn't be as successful in England as he is elsewhere. He took it personally, came to England, and conquered it all. For him, being successful with Manchester City would be more of a personal satisfaction than winning it with Barcelona or Bayern. Because, even before Pep, Barcelona and Bayern were world beaters. With City, it was not quite the same. He turned City into a monster of a club. 

In his seven years in charge, Guardiola made City the English champions five times, the League Cup four times, the FA Cup twice, and now, with the last jewel in the crown, the Champions of Europe. After doing all these things, why don't some people want to rate Pep as the greatest of all managers? Because he spent over a billion at City? Is it the only fact behind Guardiola's success at City? Absolutely not. 

Pep's contemporaries

We have to compare Pep's spending with some of the other managers who are considered greats. First in line is Jose Mourinho. This Portuguese enjoys portraying himself as the perpetual underdog. However, the opposite could not be further from the truth. From his initial managerial tenure at Chelsea, when he had access to Roman Abramovich's resources, to his latest stint at Roma, he has routinely spent astronomical sums on players. 

In his first tenure with Chelsea, when Roman Abramovic took over the club, Jose splashed millions on new players. He managed to win Chelsea back-to-back Premier Leagues. So, like Pep, did he buy success, or would he be spared just because he's the 'Special One'?

However, all of Jose's top three highest acquisition costs occurred during his three summers as manager of Manchester United from 2016 to 2018. When he paid for Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, and Fred, respectively, sums of £94.5 million, £76.2 million, and £53.1 million. Let's just say that they didn't quite have the expected effect. 

On the other hand, Pep's top three buys at City are Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias, and Rodri. All of them are treble winners and catalysts behind City's success. In total, Jose spent a total of £1.71 Billion on buying players; to compare, Pep spent £1.64 Billion until now. 

Carlo Ancelotti is the only manager to have won four Champions League titles, which Pep is chasing with three. He spent a total of £1.44 billion on players. Ancelotti's league success is very poor compared to his supremacy in Europe, whereas Pep has won league titles for fun everywhere he has even been. 

Another manager we have to talk about is Sir Alex Ferguson, whom a lot of people consider the greatest manager of all time. Sir Alex rightly claims his position at the apex of the list. But is it quite the truth that he never spent millions or billions like Pep?

Sir Alex spent nearly £850 million on buying players in his 26 seasons with Manchester United. Providing the club with 28 major trophies. His spending is nowhere near Pep's, right? Wrong. Here comes the game changer, which is inflation. SAF's £850 million is equivalent to Pep's £1.7 billion, if not more. How? Let's see an example.

SAF broke the bank for Rio Ferdinand in 2001 when he bought the English centerback for a whopping £46 million. Which was the world record fee for a defender at that time. On the contrary, Pep's most expensive ever defender is Ruben Dias, whom he bought for £70 million in 2018. In today's market, how much would Rio Ferdinand be worth? Or in 2001, what would have been the price of Ruben Dias?

It's not just about buying good players by spending big. If that were the case, then PSG should've won all the trophies out there since they have been taken over by Qatar based authorities. They haven't managed to win a single Champions League yet. When Pep bought a player with big money, he made sure that the player actually did justice to the price tag. It is a rare case when Pep bought a player by breaking the bank, and he did not deliver. For the other great managers, it happened more often than not. 

Also, some of the deals Pep has done through the years would raise some eyebrows. In the summer of 2022, he bought Erling Halaand for only £51 million, who is one of the biggest prodigies in world football. Haaland went on to score 52 goals in all competitions and helped City win the treble, breaking a number of records along the way. Guardiola also made a masterful move by buying Manuel Akanji for a very small fee, who has been outstanding for City over the last season. These are also key facts in Pep's climb to the top. 

The amount of money Guardiola spent is enormous, and the success he brought along is also there to be seen. In the modern era, no team can compete at the highest level without spending big. Even if a team does not want to get relegated to a lower division, they must spend. Whether City wanted to be the best in the world. Imagine how much they had to spend to be able to call themselves 'The Best'. 

As said earlier, spending here and there does not guarantee success. You need proper plans, directions, great management skills, and coaching. When all of them add up success comes along. Pep Guardiola spent billions, and he has won it all by using his genius. It's that simple.