Pep Guardiola is regarded as the best coach in the world for many reasons.
Not only is he a tactical mastermind, but he has the ability to raise the level of every player under his tutelage.
Manchester City tend to sign readymade superstars, and then the Spaniard turns them into world-beaters.
Jack Grealish was already a red-hot player before he arrived at the Etihad Stadium and now, he’s easily one of the best players on the planet.
But can Guardiola take him that one step further and make him a contender for the Ballon d’Or in the future?
Manchester City will be hard to stop again
Manchester City are looking to follow up on last season’s incredible treble win with yet more dominance in every competition.
According to the Premier League winner odds, they are placed at 8/11 to win the title again, with Arsenal the closest contender at 5/1.
All the football tips blogs are backing City to do business once again, simply due to the quality they have throughout the squad.
Guardiola arguably has two potential league-winning teams at his disposal, and no other team in the division can boast that kind of depth.
Although there have been a few departures at the club, there have been shrewd new additions as well.
On top of that, Guardiola has had a couple of seasons to work with Grealish and make him a formidable cog in the side.
Grealish is now one of the key players in City’s remarkable side, and he will be one of the first names on the team sheet in the most important games this year.
The £100 million signing’s career in Manchester started off slowly in his first season, but he went from strength to strength last year.
Now, it’s just a question of how far he can go.
Grealish could become world class under Guardiola
There hasn’t been an English winner of the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen claimed the coveted prize in 2001.
However, the competition is wide open now that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s careers are winding down.
It could be time for a player like Grealish to make his case to be included in the voting.
Judging by his improvement so far under Guardiola, that’s not completely out of the question.
In Grealish’s first campaign at City, he only managed three goals and three assists in the league.
He racked up 1,910 minutes of game time, but many of his appearances came from the bench.
In 2022-23, he cemented his place as a regular starter and improved his tally to five goals and 10 assists.
Many people will be backing the former Aston Villa man to better that again this time out and become one of the greatest players in the world.
Guardiola has already trained Grealish to become one of the deadliest wingers in England.
It’s not out of the question for him to now become one of the best in the world.
In the next few years, Grealish could become a contender for the Ballon d’Or.
Featured image credit: Richard Matthews via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 licence
