Guardiola's impact remains strong at Barcelona

Though Pep Guardiola left Barcelona four years ago, no player in the Blaugrana's current starting XI has escaped the Catalan's impression. Of course, current Camp Nou coach Luis Enrique

has often been something of a partner-in-crime over the years, but even those players brought in by the ex-Real Madrid midfielder have been influenced by Guardiola.

The likes of Lionel Messi, Sergi Roberto, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and Sergio
Busquets were at the club before Guardiola's reign and most developed into world-class talents under the Spaniard, not least Iniesta who formed a deadly midfield partnership with Xavi. Javier Mascherano is one of the only remaining players actually signed during Guardiola's tenure, and recentlycommitted to a new contract, whilst Neymar was first approached to leave Santos by the then-Blaugrana coach, who later tried to bring him to Bayern Munich only to find his mind was made up.

It was a similar situation for Jordi Alba, who was eyed by the Azulgrana in the 2011/12 season and was finally signed after Euro 2012 to debut under Tito
Vilanova. Both Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez were captured by Luis Enrique, with the Croatian admitting to finding inspiration in Guardiola's style whilst Suarez's agent is Pere Guardiola, the City boss' brother.

Finally, Marc-Andre ter Stegen might not still be a Barcelona player without Guardiola, thanks to Manchester City ending the German's first-team woes by signing Claudio Bravo for the Lancashireclub this summer.

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