Pep Guardiola has cheekily joked that Manchester United should name a stand after Omar Berrada if he manages to transform their fortunes.<\/p>\n
A long-time City stalwart, Berrada sprung a major surprise and vacated his chief football operations officer\u2019s role at the Etihad club last weekend to be the new chief executive at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
Having served in a key off-pitch part of City\u2019s recent triumphs, pinching Berrada is no doubt a major coup for Man United but Guardiola has triggered the amber warning indicator that his former Barcelona colleague is no instant guarantee of success.<\/p>\n
The City manager said: \u201cObviously his knowledge goes to United, that\u2019s the reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you buy a player from another club you buy the knowledge that this player has had in the past with other managers and team-mates. That is normal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned a lot from Omar and he\u2019s learned a lot from the club, and now he\u2019s gone to United.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Kevin De Bruyne is still in Man City, De Bruyne will play here. Erling Haaland will play here, so in the end it\u2019s not that simple. Otherwise, with the power of United, they would have done it before.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe United think with this person everything is going to change \u2013 congratulations. I don\u2019t know if this is going to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a lovely person, an incredible character, incredible professional. Yesterday I saw him, we hugged and I wished him all the best. Deeply, I wish him the best because he\u2019s a fantastic person.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t know if by doing this (clicks his fingers) everything is going to be sorted and it works.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it does happen then, oh my God, they have to make a stand for Omar Berrada in the future because he\u2019d deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola insists there are no hard feelings over Berrada\u2019s departure and is confident City will appoint wisely when it comes to naming his successor.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe try to keep the best people here but this kind of thing can happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club will move forward. We\u2019ll find a way to replace him and we\u2019ll continue. We will be well prepared, we will adapt and adjust and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manchester City is up next in the evening against Tottenham in the FA Cup at 8pm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"