Per Mertesacker Quotes

Guardiola was a very special coach for me, the first when I was at Barcelona. He is a great coach, a lovely person, and I have very good memories of that time, but I would have liked to have had a full year with him.

I first came up under Joe Royle and when Keegan took over it was even better for me because I felt his style added more to my game.

I already worked with Van Gaal before at the Under-20 team back in 2001. He hasn't changed much as a coach since. He really stands out.

With Zidane he had a lot of relationships with the players, a father-son relationship. Like a friend. Solari does the same, he is being fair to everyone.

Wenger is the best coach I've worked with.

Working under Pep Guardiola, a chance like that doesn't come along too often. That's no disrespect to Mauricio Pochettino, but the people that Pep has worked with grow as players.

The mentor thing is overblown to me. I'm going to coach the player. I'm not going to have another player coach the player. They can be friends but when it comes to what I want him to do on the football field, that's my call, not another player's call.

I think the 20-year-old me from that time, if I could have been managed under Jurgen Klopp, I'd have benefitted.

I respect Bielsa a lot. For me, he is a special coach. I think the best coaches in the world work in different things, and a lot of coaches, we cannot train like Bielsa. It's difficult to train like Bielsa. But every coach can learn from different coaches. But with Bielsa, I think all coaches learn something from him.

I have always been the same player, but Conte knows how to treat players, having played at the highest level himself.

I had great relationships with all the four coaches I played under at Real Madrid. They all helped me improve, but if I had to pick the best, I would pick Ancelotti.

When Coach Belichick comes up to you during a game and says something to you, that's great.

Pellegrini gave me back the joy of playing football. He is like Arsene Wenger: someone who likes to joke, someone who likes to talk and take an interest in your life.

Guardiola improved me a lot as a footballer. He taught me a lot of things, and that's why, in every interview I'm asked, I always say the same thing: He is the best manager that I have worked with.

As a coach you're able to have better relationships with the players because you're not picking the team.

From my youth team all the way through, I was encouraged to play that way by Keith Hill when I was at Barnsley, and then Roberto Martinez at Everton, through to Gareth Southgate when he was in charge of the England Under-21s.

It sounds strange, maybe, because I have played with a lot of big players but I never thought: 'OK, they're going to go into management.' Maybe there was only one, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, because he was always talking about football but I did not have a feeling with the other players.

When I was coach at Ajax, in the first half of the season, the players needed time to adapt to me, to know who I am as a person and as a coach.

Am I too loyal to my players? I could be, could be.

Felix Magath works with pressure. At first, we didn't know where we stood with him. That prompted the players to give their best because they wanted to play, but after a while the players knew where they stood and Magath no longer received the same effect.

You cannot just copy and paste Carlo Ancelotti. He's been coaching for 20 years now and I have never heard a player complaining about him.

Whenever I hear people crying about Kobe yelling at people in practice or wondering whether or not LeBron is best friends with his teammates, I just roll my eyes. You know how many off-court conversations I had with the Zen-Master Phil Jackson in my entire time with the Lakers? One.

I always get saddled as a player's coach, and I'm happy about that.

Mourinho was always very strong for his players, and you needed to deliver for him. For me, it was good.

Andre Villas-Boas wasn't the ideal coach for me. He bought Gylfi Sigurdsson and then told me he would be his new No.10.