Pep says Ole is Gunnar succeed

that managers and clubs need time to build something that the manager and club both believe in.

“Unfortunately sometimes the results mean clubs take the decision to break that process.

“It is not always about the tactics, sometimes it is about the feel – how the players follow the manager.

“I appreciate the quality of their manager a lot, I think he represents United in an exceptional way.

“And I think in the good moments, Ole arrives with an incredible impact in terms of results and afterwards, maybe they drop a little bit.

“But on both sides of the club they are stable. From what I read the comments are stable from the board and I think Ole’s behaviour here in the press conferences was always quite similar and now the results are getting back.

“United are scoring a lot of goals, they create chances, they concede few, and especially they have good keepers, good defenders, a bigger squad.

“So with United there is no doubt about it, all the time, every season, they have good teams.”

Guardiola admits he’s been surprised at United’s decline since he arrived in the Premier League at the start of the 2016-17 season.

“I never expected this position when I arrived here in England,” he said. “And right now to have this distance against United in these last three or four years I didn’t expect it.”

MAN CITY boss Pep Guardiola has claimed it’s more important to spend money on the right players than make “trophy” signings.

City don’t have a player in the top 20 list of the world’s most expensive transfers despite being the Premier League’s top overall spenders over the last five years.

Manchester derby rivals United have spent more on individual signings than City with Paul Pogba (£89million), Harry Maguire

(£80m) and Romelu Lukaku (£75m) costing more than of

Guardiola’s stars.

City’s most expensive player is midfielder Rodri (right) signed for £63m from Atletico

Madrid last summer – a deal ranked 23rd in the all-time list of most expensive players.

And Guardiola isn’t sure if and when City will spend as much as United have on one star.

The Spaniard said: “I don’t know, it’s up to the club. Maybe one day it will happen, maybe not. The important thing is to buy good players who fit in to the way you want to play, to take all the information about the player to reduce the uncertainty of a player being at a new club.”