Gvardiol: The ‘Soldier’ Driving Manchester City's Perfect Start
Josko Gvardiol looks like himself again. The broken leg, the stop-start first year, the frustration – all of it is fading into the background as he drives Manchester City into the new season with a steel that matches his scar.
Since that bruising 3-0 defeat by Arsenal in the Community Shield, City have snapped into gear. Six wins on the bounce in all competitions, just two goals conceded in their first four Premier League games, and a back line that suddenly feels unforgiving again. At the heart of that resurgence: a centre-back playing like a specialist left-back.
From broken leg to first name on the teamsheet
Enzo Maresca inherited a dressing room packed with centre-halves. Ruben Dias, now captain. Marc Guehi, growing into the shirt. Gvardiol, the £77m defender who arrived from RB Leipzig in 2023 as the second most expensive defender in history, behind only Harry Maguire.
Something had to give. It turned out to be the left-back spot.
With Dias and Guehi knitting together an increasingly assured central partnership, Maresca pushed Gvardiol wide. Not as a stopgap, but as a statement. The Croatian has taken the role and made it look like it was designed for him.
That wasn’t the plan last season. Gvardiol missed five months with a broken leg, a lay-off that opened the door for Nico O’Reilly to fill in on the left. The young Englishman did a job, and did it in an unfamiliar role. Now he finds himself back on the bench, waiting for chances in his preferred midfield position, with Maresca assuring him those minutes will come.
They will. Just not at Gvardiol’s expense.
A ‘soldier’ at left-back
People close to Gvardiol describe him as a “soldier”. No fuss about where he plays, no complaints about the workload. He accepts the role, then empties the tank.
He’s understood to be satisfied with Maresca’s call, and more than that, he believes English football has sharpened his tactical understanding. This is not the same defender who arrived from Leipzig; he’s broader in his game, more nuanced in his movement.
In the summer, he warned it would take “at least a year before everything heals inside”. That year is up. He is now said to be pain-free and back at full match fitness, and it shows in the way he covers the left flank like a one-man unit.
Left-back, he feels, is more physically demanding than centre-half. More running, more sprints, more duels in wide areas. He enjoys it. It gives him licence to surge forward, to appear in the box, to turn defence into chaos for the opposition with those driving, marauding runs.
Goals, assists and a derby flashpoint
The numbers are already stacking up. On the opening weekend against Bournemouth, Gvardiol popped up with an injury-time winner, the kind of late intervention that announces a season.
He has two assists to his name as well, including the cross that led to Erling Haaland’s controversial derby-clinching goal at Old Trafford. The argument about that strike will rage on, but the delivery that created it came from City’s left-back, high up the pitch, where Maresca wants him.
This is not a defender shackled to the touchline. It’s a defender encouraged to step into midfield, to overlap, to attack the back post. Yet none of that attacking freedom has dulled his edge without the ball.
A clean sheet with 10 men and a dominant duel
The trip to Old Trafford last Sunday underlined his value. Reduced to 10 men after Phil Foden’s red card in the 23rd minute, City should have been hanging on. Instead, they walked away with a clean sheet and what felt like an unlikely victory.
Gvardiol helped make it possible. He kept Bryan Mbeumo largely quiet, winning nine of his 11 duels – more than any other player on the pitch – and throwing himself into four tackles, the highest tally of any City player on the day.
Stretch that out across the season and the picture is just as impressive. He currently sits seventh in the Premier League for duels won and ranks in the top 10 for tackles made. That blend of aggression and timing has turned his flank into a no-go zone for most wingers.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, signed from Wolves last summer as a natural left-back, has barely had a glimpse of the role. Maresca has been forced to use the Algeria international higher up the pitch simply because Gvardiol has slammed the door shut on that position.
Not perfect, but close
It hasn’t all been flawless. At Porto in the Champions League, Gvardiol endured a rough night – booked in the first half and taken off early in the second. It looked more like an off-day than a warning sign, a rare misstep in an otherwise commanding start.
His response has been telling. No drop-off, no lingering hangover. Just the same relentless intensity.
That mentality helped persuade City to lock him down in the summer. He signed a new five-year deal despite serious interest from Bayern Munich and Barcelona, committing his prime years to the Etihad Stadium.
He called himself “happy” to extend his stay and was clear about the standards under Maresca: everyone fights for their place, no-one is safe. On paper, that includes him.
On the pitch, it doesn’t feel that way.
Sunderland, Nations League and a new standard
City host Sunderland on Sunday at 14:00 BST, a fixture Maresca has already labelled their “toughest” of the season so far “because of how good they are”. Win it, and the champions keep their perfect record, their momentum, and send Gvardiol off to international duty in exactly the mood Croatia need.
The Nations League schedule is unforgiving. England and Spain await, just months after Croatia’s World Cup exit at the last-32 stage. That disappointment still lingers, but Gvardiol will report for duty as one of the most in-form defenders in the Premier League.
He left Leipzig as a highly rated centre-back. He might yet return from this season as something more dangerous: a complete modern defender, equally ruthless at the back and ruthless in the final third.
If he maintains this level, the fight for positions at City will continue. Just not, you suspect, in his.
