Arsene Wenger has rebuffed suggestions that Man City manager Pep Guardiola has raised the standard of football in the Premier League.
Instead the experienced French coach believes that any perceived raising of the bar is more down to the quality of player certain teams possess.
“No, because you look at Barcelona and they are still the best team in Europe. You have to accept that the modern game has changed with the recruitment of the best players in a short number of clubs.
We, as managers, can maybe impart our philosophy but this game belongs to the players because the importance of the players has become bigger than ever before.” The 68-year-old said.
Wenger’s comments can easily be interpreted to mean that Guardiola’s success at the Nou Camp was more to do with Messi’s individual brilliance than his coaching ability.
The Gunners managers point seems to be that despite Pep leaving the La Liga side, they continue to be the best in Europe because they have the best player in the world in their team.
Wenger’s remarks on recruitment, also suggest that his counterpart has a massive advantage due to the almost half a billion pounds he has been allowed to spent since taking over at the Etihad in the summer of 2016.
