Pep Guardiola has had a huge impact on the Premier League and world football with his groundbreaking tactics that are now the norm, but not everything the Spaniard has done during his time in charge of Manchester City has been welcomed. Lee Trundle believes Pep Guardiola’s impact on football is sad.

Pep Guardiola changed the face of the Premier League during his time at Manchester City, but it wasn’t all positive, says Lee Trundle. Trundle never played in the Premier League despite his incredible technical ability. A sensational and popular player in the lower leagues of England, Trundle played for the likes of Wrexham, Swansea City and Bristol City. Trundle has a style of play based on his individual emotions, which has made waves on social media . The talented striker is a perfect example of what modern football is missing

Meanwhile, Spanish tactician Pep Guardiola has won every trophy at the Etihad Stadium. His tactics have been copied and followed by every Premier League manager, but it stifles the spontaneity of his players, making football less enjoyable to watch. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Star Sport (UK), Trundle spoke about his concern that the Premier League will soon lack players with a similar style to his, players who play with emotion and flair, which many others have pointed out, that today’s football has stifled creativity and individual play. “I just think that’s going to disappear,” Trundle warned. “I think especially with Pep Guardiola, what he brings is every player plays to support him. You have to adapt to the style of play, I think you only have to look at someone like Jack Grealish when he played at Aston Villa. Built as the new Paul Gascoigne, Jack Grealish got the ball, he would dribble and create, and when he arrived at Man City and started to integrate into the system, Jack Grealish had that natural raw talent taken away. Jack Grealish is playing for Everton (on loan from Man City) and seems to be getting his form back, but that will definitely not happen again. It’s sad because I love watching each player play, but you don’t get to see that anymore. If you look back at Brazilian players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Neymar, they used to have the freedom to show different skills every week. I think football today is losing its identity.”

Trundle admits he regrets not working harder at a young age to reach the level he could have with his talent: “I think it was down to my attitude when I was young. I didn’t become a professional player until I was 24.

So I lost a lot of years in the non-pro leagues because I wasn’t putting in the effort. I was just acting like a normal guy when I went out drinking, even going out on Friday nights before games.

You want to be a professional footballer and obviously you can’t continue like that. So I think that’s my biggest regret in football. That’s probably the main reason why I couldn’t play in the Premier League, because I was 27, 28 years old. Maybe people see you as an older player, so I definitely wasted a lot of years when I was young. I’ve always played like that since I was a kid.”

Trundle, who is still playing at the age of 49 for Welsh third-tier club Pure Swansea, continued: “I think maybe not being at a professional club has helped my game, because of the circumstances.

In the professional leagues, you need to play to support your team-mates. That can stifle raw talent and that never happened to me. Coming into professional football at 24, I was a player who was free to try all the tricks, to try individual skills. That’s what I like, that’s how I like to play football and I still do it today.”