Pep Guardiola leaves Manchester City having won 17 major trophies in 10 seasons, including 12 league titles. Across a 17-year career, he's collected 41 trophies total, putting him close to Sir Alex Ferguson's 49 in 39 years. The numbers are staggering, but as Guillem Balague argues, trophies alone don't settle the greatness question.

Guardiola built three distinct City sides: a possession-based beauty, a defensively resolute version with Erling Haaland smashing records, and his current evolving squad. What makes this remarkable is that managers he trained, including Mikel Arteta, Vincent Kompany, and Enzo Maresca, returned to compete against him. He won despite being outmaneuvered by his own protégés.

The Champions League record of just one in 10 years is the obvious gap. Yet Guardiola's real mark is changing how football is played across Spain, Germany, and England. His successors carry his methods into daily training grounds. That influence outlasts any single trophy haul.