Pep Guardiola has backed Luis Enrique to be a huge success if he is made head coach at Chelsea but says the Spaniard will have a tough act to follow.

Enrique is Chelsea's first choice to replace current boss Antonio Conte, who is expected to leave at the end of the season.

Guardiola has a close bond with Enrique having played with him at Barcelona and for Spain during their professional careers.

They both had successful reigns in charge of Barcelona with Enrique, who took a year off after leaving the Nou Camp in 2017, claiming nine trophies in three seasons.

When asked about the prospect of Enrique moving to Stamford Bridge, Guardiola said: "Luis Enrique is one of the best, best, best managers. I know him very well. He is a friend of mine. I know he can do whatever he wants, but Antonio is the manager of Chelsea."

Conte has struggled to build on an impressive debut campaign with the Blues having won the title with a record 30 League wins last term.

His relationship with the board has been under increasing strain and the Italian is not expected to see out the last year of his contract.

But Guardiola feels Conte's impact on Chelsea and English football has been underestimated.

He added: "What Antonio has done here in the Premier League, maybe the people don’t realise.

"He introduced another way to attack with five at the back, another system, a lot of teams, even Arsenal, had to do a lot of imitating to do that.

"Tactically he is a master, he did it amazingly with the national team with Italy and when he went to Turin (Juventus). I think Conte is going to give something to English football. I’m sure of that.

"Last season I had the pressure. People said, “What is he doing this guy? With those beliefs? He’s coming here to play with those beliefs, that guy”.

"I don’t understand ever when managers come here and criticise other managers, because we are alone.

"I would like to protect more situations. I want to beat Arsenal and all of them, and they want to beat me. That is normal.

"In football, we know that if we don’t win, what we have done in the past, it does not really matter."

The two coaches will go head-to-head on Sunday when Chelsea take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Chelsea finished 15 points above Guardiola's side last term, but trail them by 22 points now with 10 games still to play.

When asked if he is surprised at having such a big lead over the defending champions, Guardiola said: "If you asked me at the beginning of the season, yes.

"And now? Yeah, of course, but we are doing well. We dropped few points. That’s why.

"The results from Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, they are good. They are results to fight for the Premier League."

Meanwhile, Guardiola has confirmed Manchester City will be curbing their big transfer spending in the summer.

Manchester City have paid a remarkable £448m on players since the 47-year-old took over in 2016.

But he revealed: "Of course we have bought a lot of players and they have helped us a lot. Next summer the plan is to buy one or two players more so our market in the summer will be cheaper.