A great player doesn’t always become a great coach, and vice versa. So, Gael Clichy has no guarantees regarding life in the dugout, but the former Arsenal and Manchester City man wants to try it. And he wants to try it because he was inspired by two great coaches: Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger. On the footballing side, he was successful alright: he won three Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup; he was a member of “Invincibles” in Arsenal’s 2003/04 unbeaten campaign, and also a Turkish league winner with Istanbul Basaksehir. He has appeared 20 times for France and has played for managers including Wenger, Guardiola, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini, Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc.🎙️🇫🇷 Gael Clichy: “The year I met Pep, his first year at City, he took my world of football and turned it upside down. Now, when I watch football, I can’t get away from his philosophy. It’s so intense and so clear that I can’t see anything else. It was beautiful for me to… pic.twitter.com/evcoFDZvdj— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) August 2, 2023 But, two of them made the greatest impression on him, without a doubt. For one, Arsene Wenger brought him as a youngster and gave him a chance in the first team. After nearly two decades, Clichy gave his verdict on the French tactician. “I went to him during after my debut against Birmingham City. I was really keen to have his feedback. But he asked me two questions: ‘Did you enjoy your football?’ I said yes. ‘And did you give everything?’ I said yes. He said: ‘That is fine with me’. Arsene was able to transform players into world-beaters. He was able to bring in a player for a few thousand pounds and make him a £20 million player. That is a hell of a success” he said to Telegraph Sport, ahead of the humanitarian game for Ukraine between Arsenal and Chelsea. ‘With modern day managers you have no say, unlike with Wenger’If you weigh in his words on both tacticians, it’s clear that Pep Guardiola impressed him more and ‘pushed’ him in his decision to become a coach. “Both of them changed English football. I was blessed to play for them. The year I met Pep, his first year at City, it changed my mind. He took my football world and he just turned it upside down. Now, when I watch football, I cannot distance myself from his philosophy. It is so intense and so clear that I cannot see anything else. It was beautiful for me to experience that. I was getting older and I knew that I could not compete on a certain level. I was really looking at what Pep was doing, how he was connecting with players, how he was behaving with his staff. He showed me a lot of examples of what it means to be a leader“ said Clichy. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7406137##
