Begiristain explains his relationship with Guardiola | OneFootball

City’s former Director of Football Txiki Begiristain says he and Pep Guardiola understood each other’s roles perfectly during their time together in Manchester.

Begiristain retired from his role at City in July after 13 years as a key figure in our transformation into one of the biggest clubs in the world.

During that period, he was responsible for transfer strategy and setting the long term ambitions of the club right down to our academy.

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This, obviously, involved close work with Guardiola, who he had played with at Barcelona before the pair engaged in a similar relationship at the Club early in Guardiola’s tenure at the Camp Nou.

The influence of Begiristain and CEO Ferran Soriano was crucial in bringing Guardiola to Manchester in the first place in 2016.

Once he was here, Begiristain said he knew exactly how to help his friend in creating the historic era we’ve enjoyed.

“Firstly, we played together, and we have shared a lot,” he said on Guardiola in his final interview with City.

“We then started working together. That helped when I was here and he was available and came here.

“You have to understand your role and then also you have to understand that he is the guy.

“He is the leader in the building, and he has to be seen like this.

“You have to help him to stay calm and show him that you are capable with the structures of the club to help him build the best team in the world.

“Once you have the best team in the world, he is going to make it play the best football in the world – with him you can have both of these.

“With others, you can have the best team in the world, but you don’t play the best football.

“You have to have trust and of course, it helped that we are friends, and we played together.”

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While Begiristain was crucial in keeping Guardiola at the CFA this long, so it was that Guardiola helped City hold on to Begiristain well beyond his self-imposed retirement age of 55.

Now 61, he’s finally stepping back but only after helping us to an incredible 21 trophies.

Begiristain admits he never expected to stay at City for this long.

“You cannot control how long you are going to be somewhere. I thought I was going to have some experiences, and I wanted to be in the Premier League,” he said.

“But then why not Italy or the US or back to Japan? It’s about getting out of the comfort zone that for me was Barcelona.

“It was working [at the start], then I was happy, and it was a paradise for a sporting director. That’s the reason why I was thinking it was the best to stay.

“There was a key moment during this time, and it was when Pep [Guardiola] was available, and he wanted to come to the Premier League.

“I was here to build something with Pep that could last more time.”