Even sages such as Arsene Wenger, Manuel Pellegrini and Jurgen Klopp suggested the former Barcelona and Bayern would find himself tested like never before. There was no shortage of pundits, columnists and phone-in hosts peddling the “cold Tuesday night in Stoke” theory back then. It was widely agreed that, while his methods had worked to spectacular effect in La Liga and the Bundesliga, he was in for a shock when he came to the Premier League. There were certainly a lot of doubts expressed about Guardiola when he first took over at City. There is something revisionist about all this, though. And now, after five seasons and three Premier League titles (plus one FA Cup, four League Cups and countless broken records, with a Champions League final to come later this month), they shrug their shoulders and ask why anyone should have expected any different when a manager has spent more than £880 million (more than £560 million net) on a squad that already included Fernandinho, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero when he arrived in 2016.

That was meant to be the Premier League, wasn’t it? They might tell you differently now, but there were a lot of people, sceptical of his achievements with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, who were convinced English football would expose his shortcomings. But… we’re back to Michelangelo, Scorsese and the sheer silliness of being unable to appreciate brilliance unless it is brought down from such heights and reproduced in an earthier, less rarefied environment. True, it would be a fascinating experiment, finding out whether Guardiola could teach Burnley to play a possession-based game with no orthodox centre-forward and without the option of buying full-backs from Real Madrid, Monaco or Juventus at great expense if Matthew Lowton and Charlie Taylor didn’t measure up to his requirements at full-back.

Pep chequebook manager