Danny Higginbotham: Pep Guardiola shows he is a managerial genius as he turns Man City stars David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling into true world beaters

LAST season there were people queuing up to have a pop at Pep Guardiola.

The story went that he was a fraud. That he wasn’t a great coach but only seemed to be because he inherited teams with fantastic players already in place.

Look at his Barcelona days… well, he had Lionel Messi. You or I could have swept the board with the little Argentinian in the side.

Bayern Munich? A one-team league, so the story went.

And his flying start to the season with Manchester City now?

Well, that’s all down to buying a load of talent using a fat chequebook provided by the United Arab Emirates.

I’m not having that. That is a load of snobbery.

To my mind, he is a managerial genius.

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And the evidence runs right through this City team.

Seven of the 11 players who have started the most league games this season are David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph.

They have all been superb this season. They are playing better football than they ever have.

And what do they have in common? Guardiola signed none of them.

But what the Spanish coach has done is improved them — and improved them massively.

He has taken them all to the next level now that he has had a full season to work with them. That is coaching.

And it is nothing to do with a chequebook.

Last season, Sterling made 33 league appearances and scored seven goals. This season it is 15 and nine.

Silva was 33 and four, this season it is 17 and five. De Bruyne was 35 and five. Now it is 17 and five.

It is an incredible change in their statistics.

Yes, you can judge a manager on what they win but I also ask: Has he improved his players? And it is a resounding ‘yes’ in this case.

In fact, there isn’t a player who hasn’t improved.

Delph has been arguably the best left-back in the league this season and he wasn’t even a left-back before September.

Sterling was a good player, with potential. Now he is England’s most in-form winger with assists and goals galore.

De Bruyne and Silva were arguably just below world class but now they are well and truly world class.

You might have thought they couldn’t have improved — but they have.

And it is all over the pitch. It is not just the forwards but defenders, too. It is from one to 11.

Otamendi had been written off by many as not up to it. But he is having a cracking season.

When Guardiola joined City, they had just finished 15 points off the top in fourth place in the league.

Last season they finished third — but still 15 points behind. So it has taken a year for Guardiola to get his ideas across.

Of course, he has spent money. Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson and Gabriel Jesus have added quality.

But you could definitely argue that Walker and Stones have improved under his guidance this season.

As for the other players he has bought: Bernard Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Danilo — they haven’t made a huge impact yet for one reason or another.

Of course, the players deserve credit, too.

You need to be an intelligent footballer to take on board what Guardiola is preaching — and this lot clearly are.