Guangzhou R&F manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has spoken on the impact that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has had on his fledgling managerial career.
The former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder spent five months in Manchester last year learning under Guardiola and also came toe-to-toe with the Catalan boss during City's Champions League clash against Feyenoord in 2017.
Guardiola was coaching Barcelona's B team during Van Bronckhorst's last season at the Nou Camp and the Dutchman is now looking to make his own impact in management.
While he is currently in China, he holds aspirations of returning to Europe and made it clear that his time learning from Guardiola last year has been crucial.
"Last year I spent five months with the City group and a lot of time in Manchester with Pep. He was very open. He talked about the training sessions and I could watch and see everything and talk with his staff," he told Sky Sports.
"Those are moments you can see him really in action and he is a very special coach. Those months with him in Manchester I could see a lot of things I didn't see before and it helped to develop me as a coach.
"Pep is a coach at the moment who is influencing a lot of young coaches. And he's not the only one, Jurgen Klopp is doing a great job at Liverpool."
Van Bronckhorst, a Premier League winner from his time with Arsenal, is keen to return to English football in the future as a manager.
"At the moment I'm enjoying my work in China. But as a player I had ambition and as a coach I have ambition. The Premier League for me is the number one league in the world to be working at and, for me, it is definitely an ambition to work in," he added.
"I always said if I could coach the teams I played for it would be a big dream."
