Gvardiol the ‘soldier’ leading City’s perfect start
Josko Gvardiol walked into this season with a warning. “It will take at least a year before everything heals inside,” he said in the summer, still feeling the effects of a broken leg that wiped out five months of his last campaign.
That year seems to be up.
After a bruising 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal in August, Manchester City have snapped back with six straight wins in all competitions. Four Premier League games, two goals conceded. At the heart of that response: a Croatian defender who looks increasingly like himself again.
From broken leg to left-back linchpin
Enzo Maresca has rebuilt his defence around new captain Ruben Dias and England’s Marc Guehi in the middle. That left a problem most managers would envy: where do you fit a £77m defender, the second most expensive in history behind Harry Maguire?
You put him at left-back and let him take over.
Gvardiol has done exactly that. Signed from RB Leipzig in 2023 to play primarily at centre-half, he has instead turned the left side of City’s defence into his own territory. The role is heavier on running, more punishing on the lungs and legs, but it suits him. Those surging, marauding runs that once caught the eye in Germany now regularly carry him into goalscoring positions in England.
He admits the position asks more of him physically than centre-back. He enjoys it anyway.
A “soldier” with licence to roam
Those close to Gvardiol describe him as a “soldier” – take the role, follow the orders, do the job. Maresca has given him exactly that: a clear task, and the freedom to attack from deep when the moment is right.
The numbers show how comfortable he has become. He is pain free, back to full match fitness, and looks it. He has already scored an injury-time winner on the opening day against Bournemouth and delivered two assists, including the controversial set-up for Erling Haaland’s derby-clinching goal at Old Trafford.
This is not a full-back who just overlaps and recycles possession. He drives. He commits defenders. He changes the tempo of City’s attacks with one stride into space.
And yet his attacking bursts haven’t dulled his edge at the back.
Old Trafford statement
If one game summed up his early-season form, it came last Sunday at Old Trafford. City went down to 10 men after Phil Foden’s red card in the 23rd minute, the script seemingly written for Manchester United to take control.
Gvardiol tore it up.
He locked down Bryan Mbeumo for most of the afternoon, winning nine of his 11 duels – more than any player on the pitch – and contesting four tackles, the highest total of any City player. It wasn’t just a solid outing; it was a defiant one, the platform for what turned into an unlikely clean sheet and a statement win.
Across the league, his numbers back up the eye test. He sits seventh for most duels won among all Premier League players this season and ranks in the top 10 for tackles made. This is a defender who is not just filling a gap at left-back; he is redefining it for City.
Squeezing the squad
Gvardiol’s form has consequences. Nico O’Reilly, who stepped in at left-back during the Croatian’s five-month absence last season, has slipped back to the bench. The 21-year-old has been assured by Maresca he will see more minutes in his natural midfield role, but for now he watches Gvardiol own the flank he once covered out of necessity.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, signed from Wolves last summer as a specialist left-back and an Algeria international, finds himself pushed higher up the pitch. There is simply no room for him in his natural slot while Gvardiol is playing like this.
Competition is fierce, and that is exactly how Maresca wants it. Gvardiol knows the rules. When he signed a new five-year deal in the summer, turning away interest from Bayern Munich and Barcelona, he made it clear: at City “everyone has to fight for their position, no-one is secure.”
The irony is that his performances are making him as close to secure as anyone can be in this squad.
One off-night, no alarm
Not everything has been perfect. He endured a difficult evening away at Porto in the Champions League, booked in the first half and withdrawn early in the second. It looked like an off-day rather than a warning sign, a rare misstep in a run that has otherwise been relentlessly assured.
Maresca has trusted him to respond, and Gvardiol has done exactly that.
Sunderland next, then England and Spain
City now turn to Sunday’s home game against Sunderland (14:00 BST), a fixture Maresca has already labelled their “toughest” so far “because of how good they are”. Victory would extend their winning streak and send Gvardiol into international duty with Croatia in the best possible mood.
The Nations League schedule is unforgiving: England and Spain await, high-stakes games after Croatia’s World Cup disappointment, when they exited at the last-32 stage in the summer. For a player who has already spoken openly about the mental and physical toll of his injury, these are the kind of tests that define a season.
He feels more tactically mature since moving to England. He feels settled. Most importantly, he feels healthy.
City are reaping the rewards.
If this is Gvardiol still learning a new role, still growing into a new league after a major injury, the obvious question hangs over the rest of the Premier League: what happens when he hits his absolute peak?
