That’s the verdict of Henry Winter, highly respected chief football writer of The Times.
Winter was out in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last week to witness first hand as City created another slice of English football history in becoming the first side from these shores to win the five major trophies of Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in a single calendar year.
But rather than now resting on their laurels, Winter believes that the hunger, spirit and collective mindset of the squad assembled by Guardiola ensures City will only be driven by an even greater desire to succeed looking to 2024 and beyond.
“You know that the greats, whether it’s sporting teams, whether it’s individuals, whether it’s Bruce Springsteen producing album after album... the greats just keep on repeating it,” Winter declared.
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“And it’s not just about doing it once. It’s about repeating it and to do it in this calendar year, to win five major trophies in 2023 against the quality of some of the teams out there, it’s phenomenal.
“I think it’s even more of a phenomenal achievement at a time when we’re talking about the draining nature of the modern game on players, the frequency of the games and the intensity of the games particularly.
“With VAR making games longer, to actually keep repeating that level of performance is just remarkable. I know City have got a strong squad, but the squad has had significant injuries.
“I mean they were without Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne out in Saudi Arabia but I get the impression with Pep’s team that they’re all obviously good characters and that the players all take responsibility.
“So, whether it was Phil Foden, whether it’s Julian Alvarez, you know the two of them stood tall against Fluminense, the performances of Rodri consistently, week in, week out, are remarkable.
“Then you look at Kyle Walker and how immense he has been in 2023 and I could go on.
“Whatever walk of life you’re in just to maintain it is remarkable.
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“I’ve covered about four or five of these finals, first when it was the Intercontinental Cup and now obviously the Club World Cup, and you know that for the final you are going to be up against a team who is totally pumped up for it.
“It’s the highlight of their year… it’s a huge event.
“If you strip it down, it’s basically the two best club teams from either side of the world, i.e. from Latin America, the traditional powerhouses there, Argentina, Brazil and then traditional powerhouses of Europe. And so many great teams have played in it.
“You saw what it meant to all the City guys at the end of the game… you could see the camaraderie.
“We can talk about this and that, we can talk about the genius of Pep, but you’ve actually got a bunch of players who obviously really like each other, who are good characters and who will fight for each other.
“And another thing that I really thought stood out after the final was where Pep went round thanking all his backroom staff.
“And it wasn’t just a sort of a, you know, ‘You’ve done very well, thank you very much,’ type of thing.
“It was an embrace. It was emotional. It was: ‘You really are part of the team, and part of the success,’ and you can see that and that’s why they respond.
“Everyone is contributing again which sums up that team ethic.”
With the rigours of the Club World Cup behind them, City’s focus now is trained on the return to domestic matters, starting with Wednesday’s tough Premier League trip to a rejuvenated Everton.
Some frustrating results ahead of the trip to Saudi Arabia saw the defending Premier League champions – who are chasing an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League crown – slip down to fifth place in the table.
Winter however has no doubt that a City squad set to be rejuvenated by the return of Haaland, Doku and De Bruyne looking forward – will remain the team to beat going into the second half of the campaign.
Not least with their track record of success not to mention the added kudos of now being official FIFA Club World Cup champions.
“February and March, that’s when the Thoroughbreds begin to sort of make their run for the line, whether it’s at the Grand National, whether it’s in football,” Winter pointed out.
“We’ve seen it with Guardiola’s teams before. I do think it’s a more competitive league this year. There’s a lot of talent there. People have spent well, but at The Times they asked five of the writers who they felt would win the title.
“Four went for City and one London-based journalist went for Arsenal. You know people will take points off each other and though City have had some poor results recently by their high standards the fact is they’re absolutely still in the hunt.
“Most neutrals, and obviously City fans, would back them for the title. They will come good especially when you think they have got Haaland to come back, you’ve got De Bruyne to come back. And obviously keeping Rodri fit is a fairly sort of obvious thing to say
“So, I wouldn’t back against City. They’ve got the players that means they can play with a false nine or you can play with Alvarez moving around poaching. You got Haaland – what a talent he is and he will come back refreshed - and then there is the quality of De Bruyne too.
“And they are now the undisputed champions of the world – and that will only add to their confidence and belief.”
