Southgate hails 'best coach in the world' Guardiola's impact on the England team

Gareth Southgate has heaped praise on Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola for the influence has had on his England stars.

Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and John Stones are three key members of Southgate's England set-up and playing under Guardiola has hugely benefited the trio and by extension the England team.

Having secured the Premier League title for a third season in a row, Man City are closing in on an historic treble and Southgate has spoken of his admiration for the work of the Spanish boss, according to The Times.

'It has been brilliant for our players to work with him and they have learned individually and tactically and, as much as anything, the mentality.' Southgate said.

'Pep's the best coach in the world in my opinion and I'm a huge admirer of what he does, the consistency of how he drives the team.

'It's so rare that you ever see a performances from his team where you go 'wow', Southampton in the [EFL] Cup was probably one where you went, 'Wow, you just don't see this.'

That's unbelievably hard to do in our league, so whatever the depth or the size of the resource in the squad, the way he has them playing, his tactical solutions, but the constant hunger and drive, I'm a huge admirer — he knows that, I've told him.'

There are five Man City names in Southgate's latest England squad - Walker, Stones, Grealish as well as Kalvin Phillips and Phil Foden - but it's Grealish who the Three Lions boss reserved special praise for.

The 27-year-old has been one of the standout stars of the season, and Southgate hailed his improvement since moving to the Etihad.

He added: 'Jack, he has played properly, I would say, in this period. Against [Real] Madrid, with and without the ball — that wasn't the case two and a half years ago, if I'm honest. So there's been a lot of progress.'

England finish the season with two Euro 2024 qualifiers next month, as they travel to Malta on 16 June before hosting North Macedonia at Wembley three days later.

The Three Lions currently have a 100 per cent in Group C, after wins over Italy and Ukraine in March.