Pep Guardiola has lauded Erik ten Hag for transforming Manchester United - as the Spaniard is convinced that Manchester City's neighbours have already shown signs that they are "coming back" under their new boss.
Ten Hag endured a baptism of fire at Old Trafford after starting the season with successive defeats against Brighton and Brentford, but the Dutchman has steadied the ship in recent weeks. Since losing 6-3 to City in the Manchester derby at the start of the month, United are unbeaten in seven games in all competitions and are now just six points behind the champions in the Premier League standings.
United earned plenty of plaudits for the manner in which they dispatched Tottenham last week before producing a dominant first-half display against Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge just days later.
And Guardiola is adamant that he has already seen enough of City's rivals under Ten Hag to suggest that United are once again moving in the right direction.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the City chief said: "I have the feeling United are coming back, finally United is coming back. I’ve seen it against Chelsea, the first half. I said I like what I see of United right now."
The City supremo even believes that United are one of the teams capable of challenging his side's domestic dominance with Ten Hag at the helm. He added: "There will be a lot of teams like United fighting. That’s why you have to fight to qualify for the Champions League and fight for the title."
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Guardiola's verdict on the transformation Manchester United have undergone since Ten Hag's arrival comes just months after the City chief gave his opposite number a glowing endorsement.
Speaking before Manchester United had announced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's permanent successor back in April, Guardiola claimed that Ten Hag, who worked with the City chief at Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2015, urged United to approach the former Ajax boss and even insisted that Ten Hag was more than capable of succeeding him at Manchester City in the future.
Ahead of their first Premier League meeting in last month's Manchester derby, Ten Hag opened up on his admiration for Guardiola and admitted that he had learned "a lot" from the former Barcelona boss.
"First of all, it's most important that no person is the same,” said Ten Hag. “So I have to stick by myself and then, I learn a lot from many human beings in football, especially from top coaches. I admire Pep a lot, because he's not only successful, he's doing it in a certain way that really attracts people to football and that's a reward."
