Contis: “We had tried to bring Guardiola to Mars”

Giannis Contis went ahead with the revelation that Aris had tried years ago to come to an agreement with Pep Guardiola to take over his technical leadership. The former technical director of the “yellows” said in an interview with Metropolisthat there were contacts with the Spaniard when the team would return to the first division from the Second National, and Guardiola was a technician in Barcelona B.

He initially reported on Guardiola:



“The year Aris was promoted from the B National Team, we had decided to work on a model with Latin football players, we put Guardiola in the plan, who was then a coach in Barcelona B, we had made a trip to Spain, with him coming and to Thessaloniki to see the facilities up close, however his transfer was not completed and we took Ogios”.

For the reasons he did not come:



“At that time the team had a b national mentality, Pep had come to Thessaloniki and saw the facilities and the situation in the changing rooms with clothes thrown in supermarket trolleys, socks, shoes and this was one of the reasons why he decided not to join the team, with Ogios to be the chosen one”.

For Mata:



“We had closed the transfer of Juan Mata, but he broke down for 30,000 euros that he himself wanted for the commission of the transfer, whereas at the time what was given was the maximum of 5,000 euros, with his father then becoming manager.”