Arrigo Sacchi, the Godfather of modern coaching, claims Pep Guardiola is following in the footsteps of Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff in changing football.
And the former Italy boss, who loves the Premier League, is also a huge fan of Mauricio Pochettino.
Sacchi, 71, revolutionised the game at AC Milan with his pressing style in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And he said the Manchester City boss is now the trailblazer after the Dutch legends of the past.
“He has carried forward total football even more,” Sacchi said. “He is adding to it, making it better. He is a great coach and Manchester City play in his way with a real style.
“We’re friends. We’ve known each other for a long time. He came to see how I worked when I was at Real Madrid. He’s an obsessive, a perfectionist, he thinks deeply about football. He’s one of the top ten coaches since the 1950s who have contributed to the evolution of football.
“He’s in the tradition of Ajax’s Rinus Michels and Cruyff. My football is a belief in total football. It comes from Ajax.
“Guardiola once said to me, ‘I owe everything to you and Cruyff’. I said to him, ‘Without Rinus Michels, there would have been no Cruyff and no Guardiola today.’”
Sacchi had Dutch greats Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard in his Milan team which won back-to-back European Cups. He then took Italy to the 1994 World Cup final.
“I always saw my role as coach as the script writer and the director of a film,” he said.
“I tried to get the players to collaborate in the production, to create and show fantasy. But together as a team.
“Guardiola and Sarri don’t think of football as only being about fighting spirit but passion and creativity, where the beauty of the game accentuates the victory.”
Speaking at the Aspire for Sport Congress at Stamford Bridge, Sacchi added: “I believe this season an English club can go a long way in the Champions League.
“But it’s a very exacting league. Manchester City are now going at 100 mph but it’s difficult to maintain this rhythm, this pace, until May. Manchester United are dangerous. And Liverpool.
“The Premier League is full of great coaches: Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp, Pochettino, Antonio Conte — what he did last season was remarkable. From 10th place [Chelsea's finish the previous year] to win the title. Incredible.
“Pochettino is an excellent coach – his [Tottenham] team plays really well. He has a young team with great players but they are still young. They still need to make a step up.
“He is still to win anything — like his team. But this is the greatness of English football.
“Elsewhere he might not still be in the job.”
And Sacchi, who also worked at Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, reckons Serie A is “boring” compared to the Premier League.
“I watched Chelsea-Manchester City and it seemed like a different sport,” he said. “It was an extraordinary match, one of the best I’ve ever seen. Fantastic.
“In my next life, I want to coach in England!”