Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola says it is “ridiculous that certain players focus on winning the Ballon d’Or and other individual awards.
Guardiola who has been nominated for the Premier League’s manager of the month award for February referenced that to having good players at his disposal.
Gabriel Jesus and David Silva have also been nominated for the player of the month award, but the Catalan is not concerned with such recognition and believes players and coaches should focus on winning titles.
“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,” he said at a press conference on Friday.
“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 goalkeepers 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 today is not the way it was before.”
