Revealed: Pep Guardiola plotted Manchester City signings whilst Bayern Munich manager | OneFootball

One former Manchester City star has revealed contacts he had with Pep Guardiola prior to the Catalan’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium to take on the role of head coach.

The comments offer a fascinating insight into the long-term planning undertaken by Guardiola, even before he officially succeeded Manuel Pellegrini and took charge of Manchester City in the summer of 2016.

Pep Guardiola’s spell in charge of Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich is widely remembered for its tactical innovation, but it is now clear that groundwork for his next project in the game was already being laid as his exit from German loomed.

That forward-thinking approach would later become a hallmark of Manchester City’s rise to dominance, with recruitment closely aligned to Pep Guardiola’s positional and technical demands.

One of the most significant beneficiaries of that strategy was Aymeric Laporte, who would go on to become a central figure in the club’s most successful era.

Speaking during a new interview with French outlet RMC Sport, Laporte opened up on the process that ultimately led to him committing his future to Manchester City midway through the 2017/18 campaign.

“One year and a half before my transfer [to the Etihad Stadium], we almost had a deal,” Laporte explained. “Pep Guardiola was still at Bayern Munich, he called me.

“I was in talks with two other clubs as well, I had time to reflect, I wasn’t sure I was ready to move to another country.”

Reflecting on his initial days as a Manchester City player, Aymeric Laporte revealed, “On my first day in Manchester, I hadn’t trained for 10 days. In the afternoon, right after I signed my contract, there was a training session, but I didn’t have my shoes.

“The staff went to buy me a pair at the local sport shop, I went to the training session, and on the very next day I was in the starting XI. That game was incredible, I brought my mother and some other people to the stadium, we won 3-0.”

Aymeric Laporte’s instant introduction came after Manchester City activated his release clause at Athletic Bilbao, with the defender thrown straight into Premier League action against West Bromwich Albion.

The seamless transition underlined Pep Guardiola’s confidence in a player he had tracked long before his move to Manchester, and the Frenchman would go on to enjoy a hugely successful spell at the Etihad Stadium.

Laporte played a vital role in multiple title-winning campaigns and established himself as one of the most technically gifted centre-backs of the Pep Guardiola era, while his recollections now further reinforce the meticulous planning that has defined City’s dominance.