Guardiola hails Man City scouting department as they 'make 80% of the job done'

Manchester City's most important work with players goes on before Pep Guardiola gets his hands on them, according to the man himself.

The Blues boss was asked how he gets so much out of his footballers after being reminded that England rugby head coach Eddie Jones was 'embarrassed by his own coaching' after watching a Bayern Munich training session.

Guardiola was in no mood to blow his own trumpet, and instead praised director of football Txiki Begiristain for the work that the scouting department does on identifying talents. City's manager has previously stressed the importance of character when making signings, and there have been few misses over the last few years.

“That's the big mystery. When you buy a player you can discover the skills but not the mental approach, you should talk to their old mates or managers to anticipate some things or believe he has things or hasn't," said Guardiola.

"The most important department is the club is the scouting department, Txiki Begiristain's department is much more important than the manager and players. When they choose well 80 per cent of the job is done, when they don't choose the players we need for the way we want to play, you spend a lot of time and energy and sometimes you are not able to do it because you don't have time to improve with the incredible amount of fixtures.

"That's my feeling but I think the more information you have before you take a player, it is much, much better."