While Josko Gvardiol’s move to Manchester City has been a success story, the Croatian international still has plenty of time left to reach the peak of his powers.
The former RB Leipzig colossus is just 23 and has only played two seasons of football at the Etihad Stadium.
Furthermore, Josko Gvardiol has rarely featured in his natural centre-back position at City, making waves as a makeshift left-back during most of his time in England.
Gvardiol has impressed Pep Guardiola at centre-half and next season, he could be given a full-time role in the position due to his performances at the back end of the previous term coupled with Rayan Ait-Nouri’s arrival.
With Jeremy Doku lauding Ait-Nouri, it seems like Guardiola will start the former Wolves left-back from day one in the following campaign at the Molineux Stadium.
Josko Gvardiol says he hopes to face Mohamed Salah next season
While Gvardiol was largely terrific for Manchester City last season, a player who gave him a tough time was Mohamed Salah when he outmuscled the former and set Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal up in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.
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Omar Marmoush labelled Salah as “unbelievable” and during the previous term, the £34 million (Sky Sports) man was virtually flawless for much of the campaign.
In an interview with Sofascore’s YouTube channel, Gvardiol has admitted that he is looking forward to playing against the Liverpool winger after facing him just once last season: “[I played against Salah] Only one [time last season] unfortunately, I had this opportunity to face him, to play against him, he scored a goal, there was a period where we played them where we couldn’t find ourselves, you know, so, we struggled a little bit but to be honest with you, we played a really good game, we deserved more we showed that day and I’m happy I played against him.”
“And as you know, he extended the contract so hopefully, I’m going to play against him next season.”
Mohamed Salah’s record vs Man City
Rodri admitted Salah is hard to play against due to how decisive he is and for Gvardiol, playing against one of the best forwards in the modern era could serve to be a much-needed footballing lesson regardless of how he fares.
The Premier League champion would have noticed how dangerous the former Roma goalscorer is last season as he not only provided an assist but also scored against City.
Even at Anfield, Salah set Cody Gakpo’s opening goal up before dispatching a confident penalty past Ederson Moraes.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah looking on during Premier League match against Fulham
Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Historically, Manchester City remain one of the Egyptian captain’s favourite opponents in the Premier League.
The Champions League winner has won nine, drawn six and lost eight games against City in 23 outings.
Amassing 13 goals and eight assists against Pep Guardiola’s men, Gvardiol would be doing his side a huge favour by keeping Salah quiet when the pair face each other.