Pep Guardiola reportedly agrees in principle to take over at Manchester City leaving Bayern Munich to begin considering a replacement.
Mundo Deportivo say that while nothing is signed between the former Barcelona Coach and the Premier League leaders, a verbal agreement is in place between Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football and a former colleague of Guardiola’s at Camp Nou.
It’s added that Guardiola will either join City or stay at Bayern, with no third option under consideration, and Bayern won’t let Guardiola go without a fight but are preparing for his departure.
Jurgen Klopp is said to be their preferred candidate to replace Guardiola but he is understood to be on the verge of replacing Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool.
Bayern allegedly approached Klopp before Liverpool did to ask that he fulfils his sabbatical – taken after leaving Borussia Dortmund last season – and waits until next summer, when there would be a vacancy at the Allianz Arena because of Guardiola’s departure.
Guardiola has been a long-term target of City, who desire the style of play he brought to Barca and Bayern and, having renewed manager Manuel Pellegrini over the summer, the idea was always to wait for Guardiola to leave Germany.
Contracts are yet to be discussed, much less signed, but there is a relationship between the principles that means the talks would go smoothly if that point is reached.
City are said to want Guardiola’s involvement throughout the club, having built a sports complex, the City Football Academy, designed to develop young players for the first team.
