Guardiola slams selfish players chasing Ballon d´Or

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hit out at players seeking Ballon d’Or and personal glory, labelling it “ridiculous” as he stressed that winning trophies for clubs should be the main focus.

Guardiola vented his frustration after being nominated for the Premier League’s manager of the month award for February, while City stars Gabriel Jesus and David Silva are shortlisted for the player of the month gong.

Spanish boss Guardiola, however, played down the nomination as he praised his squad and their improvement, while slamming certain players for chasing individual honours.

“So I understand the business but with all respect, to be player of the month or manager of the month, believe me, guys, what counts on that? For me it doesn’t matter,” Guardiola told reporters ahead of Sunday’s trip to Sunderland.

“Gabriel Jesus is the player of the month or not player of the month. I am sad because he is not able to help us, and of course the moment he played he helped us a lot, that is what I want to see as a manager, as a team – our success, our mistakes are our mistakes and the good things are our good things.

“Normally the manager of the month is because they won, it’s simple like that. Normally when the people have more money to spend on better players [they win accolades], so I said many times I won a lot of prizes because I trained good teams, if not good teams I wouldn’t have so many prizes. That is nothing important for me.

“To see the team, the team spirit, to play better and better, the players know they depend on their team-mates, not their own performance. If the goalkeepers make a good performance it’s not for the keepers it’s for the team, if we score goals it’s not for the strikers it’s for the team, and that is what is important.

“When I hear so many times ‘I always dream of winning the Golden Ball, the Ballon d’Or’, these kind of things, that is ridiculous. It makes no sense. Win the titles, make the people happy. But it is not the way it was before.”