Ranking Pep Guardiola’s disciples on their managerial win percentage: Xavi, Arteta, Alonso…
Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers of all time and he’s also had a profound impact on the upcoming coaches of today.
From players that Guardiola has coached to assistant managers that he’s had over the years, plenty of his disciples are making a mark in the managerial game right now.
We’ve taken a closer look at seven of Guardiola’s best-known disciples and have ranked them on their managerial win percentage.
7. Thierry Henry – 30.9%
Henry spent two years playing under Guardiola at Barcelona and often praises his former coach for the impact he had on his own playing and now coaching career.
While we absolutely adore Henry as a pundit, he seems determined to make it in the managerial game. After stints with Monaco, Montreal Impact and Belgium, he is currently the France U21 manager.
“Being a manager is about asking the question: can you make your players more intelligent, understand football a bit better?” Henry told Bixente Lizarazu.
“Let’s use Pep Guardiola as an example, I thought I was good at football but when I arrived there at Barcelona I just thought, wow, what is he talking about?
“Arsene Wenger, when I arrived to Arsenal, opened up my spirit and my mind as a continuation of what I learned at the academy at Clairefontaine. Pep Guardiola opened my eyes.”
6. Vincent Kompany – 46.3%
Kompany started his managerial career with Anderlecht as a player-manager and he spent three years at the club before returning to England in 2022.
He managed to guide Burnley to promotion from the Championship at the first time of asking and completely revolutionised the playing style in the process. The impact of Guardiola is clear to see on Kompany given the similarities in their philosophies.
His overall win percentage has taken a bit of a battering this season though as Burnley have struggled to acclimatise to the Premier League. Kompany himself is still learning on the job and will have surely learned a lot from this season so far.
5. Xabi Alonso – 49.7%
The 42-year-old got the chance to work under Guardiola during his playing days at Bayern Munich. Fast forward to 2024 and Alonso is one of the hottest properties in management.
He started his coaching career with Real Sociedad B and he has gone from strength to strength since taking the Bayer Leverkusen job last season.
Alonso’s side currently top the Bundesliga and they have done so in a brilliantly entertaining fashion. It’s no wonder that Liverpool are now sniffing around him.
READ: 7 outstanding stats that prove Xabi Alonso is the natural heir to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool
4. Mikel Arteta – 57.4%
Arteta spent three and a half years as Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City and the pair won numerous titles together. While Guardiola was sad to eventually see him leave, he could hardly begrudge him from taking the Arsenal job.
Despite a few false starts along the way, Arteta has completely changed the fortunes at the Emirates. He inherited a side that looked devoid of ideas and now has them in contention for the title.
A few months prior to Arteta taking the Arsenal job, Guardiola told reporters: “He [Arteta] will have success. Sooner or later it’s going to happen [Arteta becoming a manager]. He’s a young, young manager.
“He has experience already, handling big players and big teams. He’s got an incredible work ethic. He has a special talent to analyse what happens and to find solutions. We talk a lot about what he believes and how he feels.”
3. Cesc Fabregas – 60%
Compared to everyone else on this list, Fabregas is a novice. The former Barcelona midfielder recently took charge of five Como matches and managed to secure three wins and a draw.
As the 36-year-old is still without his UEFA Pro coaching license, he later stepped down to become the assistant coach. We sure are excited to see more of Fabregas in the dug-out in the coming years.
2. Enzo Maresca – 61.7%
The Italian coach joined Guardiola’s coaching team at the start of the 2022-23 campaign. He helped oversee a historic treble-winning season before being appointed as the Leicester City boss last summer.
Since taking over the Championship club, Maresca’s reputation has grown immensely. The Foxes currently sit top of the table and are projected to finish the campaign with 108 points which would be a new Championship record.
Including his previous stint as Parma boss, Maresca has a managerial win percentage of 61.7 per cent which places him second on this list.
1. Xavi – 63.4%
It’s a shame that things have unravelled for Xavi at Barcelona this season. The 44-year-old has done a superb job at developing youngsters and he managed to win La Liga last season too.
However, the Barcelona legend recently announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season following an inconsistent run of results.
“I’ve been a man of the club. I’ve prioritised it above even myself. I’ve given everything I have,” Xavi told reporters. “And I will continue to do so to make the fans feel proud.
“I think the club needs a change of dynamic. For the good of the players, I believe that they will free themselves. We play with a lot of tension. For the good of the board of directors, it is best that I leave.”
Despite enduring an inconsistent run of late, Xavi still boasts a managerial win percentage of 63.4 per cent which is higher than any of Guardiola’s other disciples. Fingers crossed he isn’t out of the game for too long.
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