Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on importance of developing academy players and on Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby
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00:00 Just talking purely about the footballer, how impressed are you with Bruno Fernandes?
00:06 He's an exceptional player.
00:08 Especially the consistency that he plays every single game and every single competition.
00:13 I admire a lot that.
00:15 He's a guy that has the ball, something is going to happen.
00:20 In free kicks, in set-pieces, in connections with the players up front, with Garnett or Rashford.
00:26 All the strikers have done there, so what can I say?
00:31 He's a really, really important player.
00:34 Is it important for you to try and nullify him on Sunday?
00:37 Yeah, of course. Always have been like that. Always can create something.
00:41 Is it fair to say that maybe only him and Luke Shaw are the only players there you would have in your squad here?
00:46 That is football fantasy.
00:51 I like fantasy.
00:53 I like it.
00:54 Thank you.
00:55 Phil.
00:56 Pep, you say you always expect the best of your opponents.
01:01 Are you someone who ever really worries about the opposition?
01:05 Or do you only ever worry about your team performing what they can do?
01:09 Because you know that if your team, whoever you're playing,
01:11 whoever you're playing, anywhere in the world,
01:14 if your team plays at its maximum, you're probably going to win.
01:18 We have to do our best against that team.
01:21 Do you remember what happened when United went this time to Anfield this season?
01:25 When last season was 7-0, 7-1, I don't remember.
01:28 Do you remember the comment?
01:29 How many goals they used to score in Liverpool?
01:33 It will be easy for Liverpool.
01:35 What was the result?
01:37 Liverpool didn't win.
01:39 United is United. It's Man-United.
01:42 I know what happened. The past is the past.
01:44 Tomorrow, 11 players with pride, with a manager that everybody, we cannot deny.
01:50 How good has he done in the past in Amsterdam and here, trying to do his best.
01:55 United is United.
01:57 So in different situations, we were sitting in the position that United was in.
02:04 I know my players will behave in an ultra-form, with pride, character and do their best.
02:10 It's going to happen on Sunday, I know that.
02:13 So it will be a really tough game.
02:15 You have to be humble enough to respect the opponent and do our best to play the game we have to do
02:22 to try to beat them and continue up there.
02:24 It's not just for the fact to beat United, it's to continue up there and fight against.
02:29 Liverpool is above us, Arsenal is there, Aston Villa is close to us.
02:35 So to try to arrive week by week at the end to the chances to retain the title.
02:40 This is the target. Tomorrow is another final for us.
02:44 But if you are going to convince me that United is...
02:47 I'm not the type of manager that thinks about that.
02:51 I know how difficult it will be.
02:53 I've been here more difficult than Old Trafford in our period here together.
02:56 We lost more games here than Old Trafford.
02:59 We have to perform really, really well to do it.
03:02 Hi Pep, sorry to ask another question about Jim Radcliffe.
03:09 Don't forget this is a guy who is in his 70s, who has seen all of United's greatest teams.
03:14 The other week he said that the performance that your team produced against Real Madrid
03:19 was the best football he has ever seen in his life.
03:23 I can see you smiling there.
03:26 That must come as some compliment to a man who has been a Man United fan all his life
03:32 and who is now a rival of the club.
03:36 It is. I just can say thank you so much.
03:40 Sometimes it's more than a title, it's a compliment of a personality like me.
03:45 This country, because it's not like Sridhar Radcliffe that comments.
03:50 It's a complete honour for all of us.
03:53 At the end we can produce emotions and feelings for the players and our rivals,
03:58 except that helps to do our job.
04:02 Thank you so much. I cannot say on behalf of all of us.
04:05 I'm sure tomorrow they will try in one way or another to inoculate the Man United players
04:13 with the best performance to try to beat us. That's for sure.
04:16 In a way, does a club need that honesty when they are looking to bridge the gap?
04:23 They have to realise where they are and that history doesn't matter in terms of building for a future.
04:29 The best way to improve is to know exactly what really happened honestly.
04:35 Otherwise, you have to defend the position through the media,
04:40 to survive in that moment, that month, that year.
04:43 Don't say that. The best way is to yourself, your people, say what is the reality,
04:47 what are we doing, what are we playing, what is the next chapter, what is that.
04:51 When you are bad, you are bad. When you are not good, you are not good.
04:55 When it happens with us, we are not bad, you have to accept it.
04:59 After that is the best way to make it.
05:01 That's why I said in the previous conference, when they accept that we are still a little bit...
05:05 That is the best way to reduce and be closer and come back with the team you want to be or you were.
05:13 But they know it. I don't know, there is a why, because I'm not there.
05:19 Just one more if I could. You have obviously refreshed the team during your time at the club,
05:25 but you have spoken about the executive team as well and the people behind the scenes.
05:31 Does their improvement also continue?
05:35 Because it feels like you are at the pinnacle, people are now trying to close the gap.
05:39 Does that work still continue behind the scenes for the club to become even bigger and better?
05:44 They have to. They have to. Many, many executive important players have gone in the past,
05:51 in the recent past, and new people are coming and they have to.
05:56 I demand myself the best and they have to demand themselves the best.
06:01 In all departments of the club, always we can do better.
06:05 Otherwise, you are sitting and waiting and reviewing what we have done.
06:11 The other people, the other teams are working.
06:15 When you rest, they are working. They are working harder because they want to pull you out where you are.
06:22 It's normal in football, in life, in sport, it has to be like that.
06:26 Always we can do better. Not just our players, managers, staff, all the departments in the club,
06:32 they have to feel because they want to do it. They want to pull you out.
06:39 Pep, we have seen another of your good young players sign a new contract this week,
06:44 Rico Luis, Phil Foden before him, you have this conveyor belt of players from the academy.
06:50 United have obviously had a great tradition, they have had years and years of academy players in their team.
06:55 I just wonder now in this world of FFP being a lot more strict and clubs are looking at it,
06:59 and we had a very quiet January transfer window, is there more pressure and emphasis on clubs like you and United,
07:04 even though you might have the money, to develop those youngsters like Barber?
07:07 Absolutely. It's more sustainable for the clubs.
07:11 We had that feeling, I don't know why, but academy players grew up from there,
07:16 they have something special that always works. Don't tell me why.
07:20 It always works. The players here, look what happened with the players in Southampton,
07:25 on Cole in Chelsea, on Tozzi in Fulham, for example. They are stable.
07:37 The academy worked really well and the process for 30, 40, 50 years,
07:42 every day, many years, working really, really well.
07:46 Every time there is a drop of something in your body, you understand the game,
07:51 you understand many things, the culture and whatever. When you run in the young players,
07:57 it always works. I don't know why, but it always works.
08:01 Having an academy here in Barcelona, in Madrid, and when I know, even Bayern Munich,
08:08 the clubs I've been, the young players always have something.
08:11 Now with this situation, if I say play, you're right.
08:15 It's a way to be sustainable and it works.
08:18 Do you see your Manchester kids on derby day, do you see them just have a little bit more in their step,
08:23 do you see them a bit more into the game because they're City fans or maybe United players or United fans?
08:28 Do you think that's an impact?
08:29 I think they know the reality. I've been many times in the stadium,
08:32 I see the environment, I smell what happens in the club, and they adapt quicker.
08:39 Foreign players come, they need a little bit of time to adapt.
08:43 Here, it's like it's a home. They know the reaction of the fans, they feel comfortable,
08:48 they know the way they have to play, and it's quick.
08:52 So it happens, it's right.
08:54 And be it United players or Liverpool players or Chelsea players, what happens,
09:00 you have something that even I think they believe it belongs to me, it's mine, so it's my home.
09:06 I feel protected from the academy, from the first team.
09:10 We give them confidence, they will join and settle really well in the first team,
09:14 and the senior people, it's easy.
09:18 Just on the academy players, when you have a youngster coming up to train with the first team for the first time,
09:26 how quickly do they pick up the concepts that you do in training?
09:31 Easy, quicker.
09:33 There are little details in every game, the way we attack against Brentford is completely different.
09:38 Luton, why? Because Brentford defend different than Luton.
09:42 So these details, but in general, the concept is better.
09:46 What surprised me the most is how well educated they are.
09:50 So it's not just about the skills, it's about how they behave, how they respect, how they listen,
09:56 how they behave in the good moments, they are stable, make a debut, a big compliment.
10:01 The week after they are stable, they don't make gestures like,
10:04 "Now I am a senior player for Man City", it's completely the opposite.
10:07 And that means a lot, and that comes from the academy, the managers, from 30, 40.
10:13 When they don't behave well, they don't play.
10:16 What they have to do is start to understand the club is the most important thing, not you.
10:21 Not your father, not your mother, I'm sorry, at home they are, but your agents, they are not important.
10:27 Important is the club, is Man City.
10:29 They have to adapt the way they play, the way they behave with 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old.
10:34 The day after they arrive, they are well educated.
10:37 That's why it's so important, this type of work, and a lot of people.
10:41 And at the end, Rico plays, or Phil Foden plays, or Cole in the past, or now Oscar,
10:45 all the senior players, it's not about me.
10:49 I take the incredible work for many hours for all the people in the academy.
10:53 It's a sport-directed academy, scouting recruitment, of course every single player,
10:58 every single team manager, of every single under-13, 14, 15, they are playing every day with them.
11:05 That's why it's so nice, because it's a work for many, many years, for many, many players,
11:11 many people, helping to develop this guy for the skills,
11:15 otherwise he would not be here with 30, 40, 50 years old.
11:18 Even then, they are already selected in a special group of young players
11:23 and they can play in Man City, otherwise they cannot play here.
11:26 They have to be good.
11:28 It's just when the people smell they have some talent and skills, it's not just about that.
11:33 It's resilience, it's work ethic, it's arriving time in the meetings,
11:37 go to the school and behave well there, when you have a year,
11:43 force the teachers to come here, arrive at the right time, follow,
11:47 make the right homework for the day.
11:51 This is when you become a better player, a better human being,
11:55 you will be a better player, 100 per cent, for sure, there's no secret about that.
12:01 People around the club have suggested that it would be a good target
12:06 to have maybe half a team that's come through the academy in the future.
12:12 In modern football, how feasible is that, do you think?
12:16 We would love it.
12:18 I remember Barcelona, when we played two final Champions League against United,
12:21 seven or eight players were born in the academy.
12:24 We didn't sell them, we didn't get profit, because they were so good.
12:29 That's the dream for every club.
12:33 Players love the club, we're born here and we can play here.
12:38 But sometimes it's not possible, because foreign players aren't really good.
12:43 Haverly Haaland is from Norway, so we would love to have Haverly Haaland from the academy,
12:48 but sometimes it's not possible.
12:50 You have to invest, you have to buy players, yes or yes.
12:54 But we sell a lot of young players in the last years,
12:58 that make us sustainable financially, that maybe could play here.
13:03 We never know.
13:05 But in that moment, they have players, they have no space,
13:08 they want to start to play and do it, and every situation is different.
13:12 But yeah, we'll be perfect.
13:14 But sometimes...
13:19 What happened, Alex?
13:21 - Should we call it there? - Finish the press conference.
13:24 Thank you, guys.
13:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]