During Pep Guardiola’s legendary spell at Manchester City, he has had the honour of managing several players who are classed as all-time greats.
Many such players are rightly highlighted as legends of the game, with Kyle Walker lauding Kevin De Bruyne by claiming that he is up there with players like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
While Troy Deeney hailed Vincent Kompany’s leadership by claiming that he is the definition of a captain.
However, five former Manchester City players perhaps do not get the credit their time at the Etihad Stadium merits.
David Silva
David Silva is one such name who deserves to be universally celebrated for not only his time under Pep Guardiola but as a Manchester City player on the whole.
Silva was fundamental to Guardiola’s City sides from day one, as he was named the Etihad Player of the Season in the Catalan’s debut campaign.
David Silva celebrating after Manchester United vs Manchester City
Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
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During Manchester City’s famous ‘Centurions’ season, the Spaniard arguably had the best campaign of his career — registering 10 goals and 14 assists in all competitions while forming an outstanding partnership alongside De Bruyne.
In the following campaign as well, the World Cup winner played a key role as City’s chief creator when De Bruyne was sidelined through injury for most of the season as the Sky Blues won the domestic treble.
Pep Guardiola had doubts about David Silva as he admitted that he questioned whether a diminutive midfielder like him could succeed in the Premier League, which sums up how underrated he has perhaps always been.
Riyad Mahrez
Considering Riyad Mahrez’s career is defined by how he led Leicester City to a fairytale Premier League triumph in 2016, perhaps the masses do not fully appreciate how impactful he was at the Etihad Stadium.
The stats sum up how excellent Mahrez was in a Manchester City shirt, as he registered 137 goal contributions (78 goals and 59 assists) in 236 appearances.
RIYAD MAHREZ STATS AT MANCHESTER CITY
APPEARANCES 236
GOALS 78
ASSISTS 59
The Algerian particularly shone in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons after a tough debut campaign, dancing past defenders for fun, terrorising teams with his wand of a left foot and immaculate first touch.
In the Champions League, Mahrez is up there with Manchester City’s greatest-ever players — stepping up to the plate with notable goals against Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the knockout rounds.
Aymeric Laporte
Aymeric Laporte’s last season at City was one where he was no longer in Pep Guardiola’s plans before joining Al-Nassr but before that very campaign, he was largely terrific for the Sky Blues.
Patrick Bamford was stunned after facing Laporte as he admitted the Spanish defender was a much better player in person than he even looked when tuning into watching him — a feeling several strikers may have shared with the Englishman after coming up against the European Championship winner.
Aymeric Laporte with the ball at his feet during Manchester City vs Aston Villa
Photo by Richard Sellers/Getty Images
The former Athletic Bilbao centre-back was fundamental to Pep Guardiola’s system, with City losing their league title in three seasons to Liverpool in 2020 after he was ruled out for much of the campaign with a knee injury.
Laporte played a massive role in three of Manchester City’s league title wins in 2018, 2019 and 2022 in particular — an achievement most centre-backs to have played in England cannot boast of.
Raheem Sterling
Since leaving Manchester City in 2022, Raheem Sterling has struggled at both Chelsea and Arsenal.
But a statistic that sums up how crucial Sterling was at City is the fact that he ranks third in a list comprising of all the players to have played under Pep Guardiola.
PLAYERS WITH THE MOST GOALS UNDER PEP GUARDIOLA GOALS
LIONEL MESSI 211
SERGIO AGUERO 124
RAHEEM STERLING 120
GABRIEL JESUS 94
THOMAS MUELLER 79
Guardiola transformed the Englishman from being a budding prospect to an elite wideman, who was renowned for his masterful movement, scoring goals for fun, creating chances and tormenting defences from both flanks.
Whether it is in Manchester City’s successive title wins in 2018 and 2019 or during his final game against Aston Villa where the winger assisted Ilkay Gundogan’s first goal against Aston Villa to lead his side’s comeback, Sterling was incredibly consistent and a cornerstone to Pep Guardiola’s rousing success.
Fernandinho
Perhaps due to how impressively Rodri has succeeded Fernandinho, the Brazilian’s time at City might not be as widely appreciated as it deserves to be in totality.
Fernandinho lifted the Premier League trophy with his Manchester City teammates
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
However, it is easy to forget that under Pep Guardiola, the veteran captained the Sky Blues to two league titles in 2021 and 2022 while being one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
Fernandinho allowed Guardiola to play his attack-minded style of play in the first place, as he provided De Bruyne and David Silva to wreak havoc in the final third while singlehandedly anchoring City’s back four.
From the 2016/2017 season to the 2020/2021 campaign before he started to feature less often than before, the former Shakhtar Donetsk operated at world-class standards — with the midfielder being tremendous defensively, an excellent passer, an exceptional athlete and a leader in the middle of the park.