Pep Guardiola has described Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain as the "most important person" in his career and says he will never be able to truly repay his compatriot.
Begiristain helped to bring Guardiola to the Etihad Stadium in 2016, having overseen his appointment at Barcelona in 2008.
The 48-year-old has enjoyed incredible success during his three years in charge of City, winning the Premier League and EFL Cup twice and the FA Cup once.
And Guardiola puts a lot of that down to Begiristain and the faith his fellow Spaniard has shown in him.
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"I think Txiki is the most important person in my career as a manager," he said in an extensive interview on City's official website.
"Now maybe it's easy to trust me, but before I was anyone in my managerial career he trusted me. Without that I would not be here, so I will always be in debt to him.
"Grateful - because more than an incredible sporting director he is so shy and so humble, he never appears in the media. Always I say: talk sometimes! Give me a hand to talk and express your feelings about the way we want to play.
"But he says no, that does not belong to me. He's an incredible person. An incredible human being and nothing that has happened in my career would have been without him. And of course when we talk about football we have the same ideas and that's why it is easy."
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