Players love recognition from other players and Wesley Sneijder's admission that Guti was the best he ever played with will please the Almeria manager who passed the 10th anniversary of his last ever game for Real Madrid just last month.
He'll also be happy that it definitely means Sneijder holds no grudges. Sneijder told Fox Sports last year: 'I quickly became part of the starting XI at Real Madrid and Guti [who had ended up on the bench] didn't speak to me for three months.'
The two made up as team-mates and were brilliant together, which is a credit to Sneijder because not every player was able to get on the same wavelength as Madrid's unpredictable former youth-teamer who played 542 matches for the club.
There was always something very retro about him with the long mane of hair and the penchant for the elaborate on the pitch, at times at the expense of the more pragmatic, or what his coach had asked for.
He took crazy gambles in games that were not always appreciated by managers but that came off in style from time to time.
Marca famously called one of his assists the 'Back-heel from God'.
It came in a 3-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna in 2010 when he had found himself on the edge of the six-yard box in front of goal with only keeper Daniel Aranzubia to beat.
The sane thing to do was score and put his side 2-0 up but instead he back-heeled the ball out to the edge of the penalty area for another player to shoot from further out.
The elaborate assist could have left him embarrassed but instead it fooled everyone, except Karim Benzema, who scored.
Marca's praise, and the fact that it is so well remembered in Spain, also speaks volumes about Guti's flaws. That assist came in a nothing league match; his ability to influence crunch games was always questioned.
There was always an ongoing sense of never really fulfilling his potential. He won three Champions League medals but never played in a single final. He also only every played 13 times for Spain. But all that somehow just seemed to add to his cult appeal.
Former president Ramon Calderon once called him the 'eternal promise'. He said: 'He's 31-years-old and he is still talked about as having potential'.
One Madrid manager remarked on arriving at the club: 'Look at all the photographs on the walls here of all the great successes. Guti is not in any of the pictures.'
He struggled to find a permanent home in a team that was dominated by Galaticos in the early 2000s. He had to battle with Luis Figo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario who were all bought for fortunes.
He often ended up in a central midfield partnership with Beckham or on the bench.
He said that as soon as he quit he would be off to spend the rest of his days on a beach in Thailand and everyone believed him but instead he took his coaching badges and was impressive in charge of Real Madrid's under 18s.
What has surprised people has been his ability to be a convincing role model to the young players.
No one expected that of a player who famously turned up for training two hours late in 2009 when Manuel Pellegrini was the Real Madrid manager.
The clocks had gone back and Guti claimed he had set the time on his phone back one hour only for the phone to automatically put the hour back another hour. The story did not really add-up as many pointed out - Guti should have only been one hour late if his tale were true.
His last season at the club was marked by his part in a cup shock that saw Real Madrid eliminated by a third tier side. When Jose Mourinho replaced Pellegrini he made sure Guti moved on.
Despite missing out on what would have been an invaluable apprenticeship under Mourinho, Guti is rising fast as a coach and is now at Almeria, trying to get them promoted.
These days he prefers to go by his full name Jose Maria Gutierrez Hernandez and he is always linked to a move back to Real Madrid whenever the B-team or top job is up for grabs.
As one reporter remarked the last time his name was linked: 'If he takes over at Madrid there will be a few last-minute changes to the training schedule to move training sessions from the morning to the afternoon – late nights don't mix well with early workouts.'
His playboy reputation will never leave him. But neither will those glimpses of genius that peppered his career and that former team-mates like Sneijder will never forget.