There appears to be little love lost between Angeliño and Pep Guardiola. Having made his transfer to RB Leipzig permanent this month, the left-back has spoken of his unhappy return to Manchester City in 2019, claiming he was cast adrift on the basis of two pre-season games and blaming Guardiola for not having the courage to put him in the starting XI.
“He killed me,” said Angeliño, one of the Bundesliga’s most exciting players with eight goals and 11 assists, and a key part of Julian Nagelsmann’s team. “The confidence, for me, is everything. And when you don’t have the trust of the coach, it’s everything. I was judged on two games in pre-season, and then I didn’t get my chance for a few months. It’s hard to play one game every two months.”
The Spaniard came through the City academy as a teenager and, after impressing at PSV Eindhoven in the 2018-19 season, the English champions exercised their option to buy him back with a view to solving their longstanding problems at left-back. Instead, despite being described as a “fantastic” trainer by Guardiola, he made only four starts in the league before being loaned to Leipzig in January last year.
“It was a 50-50 experience,” Angeliño says of his time in Manchester. “On one side I really learned a lot from Pep, he improved me as a player on the pitch, and I have to be thankful for this period. On the other side, I didn’t play as much as I wanted to or deserved. I like to play football, I want to be on the pitch every time, and RB made it possible. Since the first day, they gave me the trust.”
Such was Angeliño’s enthusiasm for Leipzig and Nagelsmann that returning to City at the end of his loan period was never a realistic option. Cash-flow issues prevented Leipzig from making the deal permanent last summer, but it was finally completed two weeks ago for about £16m.
“I got a massive chance to come to RB, and my career went up again,” Angeliño said. “That’s why I decided to come back. When someone believes that much in you and keeps playing you week in week out, you have to pay it back. I’m very happy that I can keep working with him [Nagelsmann] for a longer time.”
Asked to compare Nagelsmann and Guardiola he said: “They both like to play with the ball, get the ball quick. There is one thing that is a big difference. One gave me the confidence and played me, the other didn’t. I’m just thankful to Julian for the trust. Sometimes you need the courage to put a player in, and he did from the first game.”
Angeliño has been Leipzig’s most active outfield player this season, starting 31 games in all competitions, including the 2-0 defeat by Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie last week. But he shrugged off any concerns over whether his volume of football in Leipzig’s high-energy system put him at risk of fatigue.
“I had a rest when I was with Pep for six months. That was enough. I don’t want it again. I don’t like being out, and I’m thankful that I get to play most of the time. I’ve had enough holidays.”
