Liverpool and England legend John Barnes has named the manager he would want to play for if he was playing today.
Barnes is widely regarded as one of England’s greatest ever players, a winger whose blend of skill, pace, and power helped define the club’s style during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Born in Jamaica, Barnes began his professional career at Watford in 1981, making 296 appearances over six seasons before a £900,000 move to Liverpool in 1987. At Anfield he became a talismanic winger and helped the Reds to win two league titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup during his ten years at the club.
Speaking in a interview ahead of a football camp in Croatia, Barnes was asked which modern day manager a twenty-year-old version of himself would want play for — and his answer was somewhat unexpected.
“I would love to be trained by Jürgen Guardiola, a mix of Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.”
The former England star went on to explain his unique choice, pointing to the contrasting philosophies of Klopp and Guardiola.
“Look both of them play fantastic football, they just play different styles. Klopp plays an intense and aggressive style whereas Pep prefers a controlled style. If you are an attacking player you probably want to play for Guardiola, they have the ball more and you don’t have to run up and down the pitch as much.”
Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have forged one of modern football’s most compelling managerial rivalries across Germany and England. Klopp’s Liverpool and Guardiola’s Manchester City clashed repeatedly, creating some of the greatest title races in Premier League history with City pipping Liverpool to league titles by a single point in 2019 and 2022.
Rather than hostility, their relationship is defined by mutual respect — Guardiola calling Klopp his greatest rival and Klopp calling Guardiola the world’s best — elevating both through tactical innovation and fierce competition.
At a time when football often forces a binary choice between pragmatism and artistry, Barnes has opted for a bit of both.
It may be a fictional figure, but in “Jürgen Guardiola”, the former England international has named what might be the ultimate manager, and perhaps revealed the kind of footballer he always aspired to be.
