Pep Guardiola Manchester City 2018-19Getty Images

'His man-management skills are out of this world' - Brentford's Moses Odubajo dreams of playing for Guardiola

Brentford defender Moses Odubajo has named Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as the favourite manager he would like to play for.

The 22-year-old has revived his career at Griffin Park this season after a knee injury ruled him out of action for two campaigns.

His return has seen him play 22 games in the Championship this term and he has been following Guardiola's success at the Etihad Stadium since his appointment in July 2016.

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The 48-year-old has transformed City into a force to reckon with in England and Europe, having guided them to win a Premier League title and two League Cups already.

Apart from his winning mentality, the former Hull City and Leyton Orient defender is pleased with the management qualities of Guardiola with reference to Raheem Sterling's recent form.

"Probably everyone's answer - Pep Guardiola. Just because of how, from the outside, even the players who play five minutes here and there, any chance they do get, they still want to do well," Odubajo told Daily Mail.

"A lot of managers, when they have their starting line-up and you're not in it, it makes a player feel like there's nothing you can do to ever get into that starting line-up.

"From what I've seen and from what he shows to the public, his man-management skills are out of this world.

"He makes the whole team feel that they are part of it. If you look at last season when they won the league, (Benjamin) Mendy didn't play hardly any games at all, but he was the one lifting up the trophy and celebrating, doing chants. It's important for a manager to be able to do that.

"Raheem Sterling had a dip at the beginning of this season when a lot of people were criticising him. A lot of managers would have been tempted to turn to another £50m signing at the club, but Pep showed that he believed in Raheem Sterling and gave him that confidence that he needed.

"Now he's probably going to win Young Player or even Player of the Year. It shows how much faith and trust Pep has in his players."

After contributing to their promotion to the Premier League, Odubajo missed out of Hull City's underwhelming 2016-17 top-flight campaign due to the injury he picked up during a pre-season training match.

Despite the disappointment, the 22-year-old had some memories against top-flight teams and he has recalled his outing against Manchester City in a League Cup as one where he faced his toughest opponent ever.

"David Silva. When I was (at) Hull, we played Man City in the League Cup and lost 4-1 (in December 2015)," he added.

"In English football, we tend to look a lot at someone's physicality. On the eye, he doesn't look like he's going to be strong or he's going to be a player if you didn't know who he was.

"But no matter how fast you are - and I'm a lot faster than him - he was always one step ahead of me. At no point did I feel that I was getting close enough to even touch his shirt, let alone get close enough to take the ball from him.

"Some games you play against world class players and you end up just running around the pitch admiring them for 90 minutes. That was one of those games when we were outdone by sheer class.

"When he came off, even I was clapping in my head because I knew how good he was.

"Up until then, I knew he was good, but I didn't realise the level he is at and how easy he makes the game look."

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