Erling Haaland reveals what Pep Guardiola is really like behind the scenes at Man City

Pep Guardiola is one of the most famous and widely admired football managers on the planet, but few know what the Manchester City manager is like behind the scenes

Erling Haaland has stated Pep Guardiola is still the hardest working individual at Manchester City.

Guardiola, 54, is coming up to his tenth campaign on the blue side of Manchester. His glittering spell at the Etihad Stadium has yielded six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups and four League Cups.

However, the Catalan is still desperate for more, as Haaland exemplified with his behind the scenes insight into Guardiola's intense work ethic. The Norwegian forward, who was convinced by Guardiola to snub the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich to move to City, is still blown away by his determination for success.

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Haaland said: "Yeah intense but for me people speak about genius and all these kinds of things. I think it’s kind of genius. But for me the thing that surprised me, or not only surprised, but his hard work.

"He works harder than everyone. He’s the hardest working in the club. He’s the first one to come, the last one to leave and I think that also is what’s been taking him so far because of his hard work every single day.

"It’s dedication. It’s motivation and also it’s an intense way of seeing football and working with football I think. That’s the main thing.”

After losing two of their first three Premier League matches this season, City are in hot pursuit of current leaders Arsenal. A big reason for their lofty league position is Haaland, who boasts 20 goals and three assists in 20 appearances in all competitions this season.

Haaland pledged his allegiance to the Cityzens in January by signing a huge nine-year contract, keeping him on the blue side of Manchester until 2034. Guardiola's future was heavily speculated on in the last campaign, until he signed a two-year contract extension in December 2024 to keep him at the club until 2027.

While there were concerns Guardiola was going to walk away from the club, Haaland admitted he was always confident the Catalan would remain in situ. The former Borussia Dortmund forward said: "Exactly, and that's the reason that I also signed it because of conversations that I've had with the bosses and also the plan in the next years, and that was something I wanted to be a part of.

"And yeah, I'm calm, I'm focused, and I'm really happy here, so it's a really good place to be for development. Also in the end, England, it's a football country, and I think it's the best place to play football."

Moving onto Guardiola's deal, he added: "I mean, he signed a new contract, was it before or after me? I'm not sure. But I knew he was staying for another year or another year-and-a-half, with his contract right now.

"But most of the conversations were with his bosses and my boss as well, because I remember my father said when I was really, not young, but like 10 years ago, he said like, 'Never go to a club because of the manager', which sometimes can be difficult. But also, you never know what's going to happen in the modern world.

"But again, Pep was a big reason why I came to City, of course, to work with him and to be able to experience him and his special ways and his hard work and all of these things. So it's kind of a mix there."