Pep Guardiola’s latest comments have hinted that his days as Bayern Munich manager may be numbered, which has alerted the City bosses to his potential availability, say the Manchester Evening News.
Guardiola joined the Bavarians 18 months ago after taking a sabbatical following his spell with Barcelona. He’s currently halfway through the three-year contract he signed with Bayern in 2013, and has hinted with the following quotes that his time at the Allianz could be coming to an end.
“I’ve had a great time. It was a dream come true to be Bayern coach,” Guardiola said.
The former midfielder has long been touted as one of the men to take over as City manager, even whilst Roberto Mancini was still with the club, and these quotes may have alerted City, two of whose board used to work with Guardiola at Barcelona, which could give them an advantage in negotiations to bring him to Manchester. The blue half that is.
Current City director of football, Txiki Begiristain, and chief executive, Ferran Soriano both used to work with Guardiola at Barcelona; Txiki spent more time working with the young manager, with Soriano leaving Barcelona a couple of months after Guardiola was appointed, along with several other board members.
However, Soriano has been more vocal when talking about Guardiola, with these quotes about him and Txiki, from when Manuel Pellegrini was appointed, also coming from the Manchester Evening News.
“After Germany he probably will come to England to coach somewhere.” This is an opinion held by many of those both in and outside the footballing world, with many of the links linking Guardiola with another club being to City, United and Arsenal.
However, Soriano also revealed Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain maintain a close relationship even now, saying “With Pep, the conversation is not about us chasing him or him chasing us. Pep and Txiki speak regularly, maybe weekly, so that would have been an easy one.”
Whilst those quotes certainly indicate there may be some interest on the part of City, and that the influence of Txiki could have some effect, it would be a battle to bring him here.
Recently, a City fan who won the chance to travel with the team to their mid-season trip to Abu Dhabi unofficially spoke to Txiki and asked him about managers, with the director of football telling him there are very few managers who could manage City, but Guardiola is one of them.
