Guardiola: Jordi Alba is a great signing for Barcelona

Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has applauded the Catalan club's decision to sign Valencia left-back Jordi Alba.

The Blaugrana announced on Thursday that they had reached an agreement worth €14 million for the Valencia defender, ending weeks of speculation about the 23-year-old's move to Camp Nou.

Alba, who spent part of his youth career in the La Masia set-up, has been in great form for the Spain national team at Euro 2012, and Guardiola has no doubt that the defender will be a quality asset to the club.

"Jordi Alba is a great signing," he told Indonesian television channel RCTI. "I will enjoy seeing him at Barca next season because he is a very good player."

Guardiola then looked back at his successful four-year reign at Barcelona and refused to single out a single player when asked about the best footballer he coached.

"I had the privilege to coach an incredible team, with a philosophy in which everyone believed and with players who are very talented and wanted to do things better every day," the 41-year-old said.

"That was the secret behind all the successes we had.

"The best player? Everyone is very good. Xavi, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta have a lot of talent, but also Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes, Thierry Henry or Samuel Eto'o.

"The merits belonged to the squad."

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