“We look forward to working together”.
Advertisement
City players believe Guardiola is coming next summer as they are confident of getting their man to beat off interest from Manchester United, Chelsea and even Arsenal who have long seen him as Arsene Wenger’s eventual successor.
The former Barcelona coach can still win the treble with Bayern this season, with the Bavarians topping the Bundesliga table halfway through the season, having reached the round of 16 in the Champions League as well as making it to the DFB-Pokal quarterfinals. Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had promised Bayern fans a “Christmas surprise” after Saturday’s final game of 2015, but it turned into the worst-kept secret in German football.
Franz Beckenbauer is disappointed by the news of Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave Bayern Munich but believes Carlo Ancelotti is the “perfect replacement”.
Guardiola, 44, has confirmed he will quit Bayern Munich at the end of the season, with Carlo Ancelotti to replace him after the former Chelsea boss agreed a three-year deal.
In Europe, however, they twice stumbled in the Champions League’s semi-final stage, losing heavily to Real Madrid in 2014 before being edged out by Juventus the following year.
“Carlo is a quiet, balanced professional who knows how to deal with stars and play a game with a lot of variety”.
Guardiola is an art lover, and spent much of his sabbatical in NY – after leaving Barcelona – around the galleries of the Big Apple.
In the meantime there is sure to be plenty of speculation over what his next move will be.
On Friday, City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini had to brush off speculation that Guardiola is being lined up to take his job at the end of the season.
“It’s a great honour for me that I will be trainer of such a great club as FC Bayern next season”, Ancelotti, who has signed a three-year contract until 2019, wrote on Twitter.
In his first season in charge Pep Guardiola broke the record for the fastest run to the Bundesliga title and extended Bayern’s dominance in the following campaign as defeats became increasingly rare and goals flowed freely.
Ancelotti has wished Guardiola and Bayern all the best for the remaining five months of the season before he steps into his boots in the summer.
Guardiola, who in December 2009 guided Barcelona to its sixth trophy of that calendar year with success at the Club World Cup, is widely tipped to join one of England’s top clubs.
Advertisement
After firing Jose Mourinho, in what can only be described as the worst capitulation by a league champion, Chelsea are in the market for a new manager.
