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Pep Guardiola has 'already accepted' England job as FA open talks with Thomas Tuchel

Pep Guardiola has reportedly been approached for the England job
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


A body language expert believes Pep Guardiola has "already accepted an offer" to leave Manchester City. The City boss has been at the Etihad Stadium for the past eight years, but his contract comes to an end next summer.

He has been tipped with the vacant England manager's job, with ITV pundit Roy Keane telling the FA to go and get him after the win over Finland in the Nations League on Sunday. Guardiola is one of the favourites for the job that Gareth Southgate vacated after Euro 24.

Former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is also in the running, with Sky Sports reporting on Tuesday that the Football Association had opened talks with the German over becoming the next permanent England manager.

However, body language expert Darren Stanton believes Guardiola could be the man for the job. Speaking in an interview with Italian TV show Che tempo Che Fa, as reported by Sky Italia, Guardiola said at the weekend: "Leaving City? It’s not true, I haven’t decided yet.

"And it is not even true that I will be the next England coach. If I had decided I would say it… I don’t know either, anything can happen."

Stanton, a former police officer with Derbyshire police with a degree in psychology, who used his expertise to uncover the truth when interviewing hundreds of suspects, think otherwise though.

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He told OLBG : "I think Guardiola, from watching his body language in this clip, has already accepted an offer. I think Guardiola is being deceptive, but not in a harmful way, it is more likely because he’s signed an NDA or something similar.

"If you’re asking me, I think we’re looking at the next England manager. Guardiola has been playful during this interview, but his body language gave me an answer.

"In the first photo, Pep Guardiola is selling his answer too much. He gets very animated and gestures as a weatherman might with his hands. This is called ‘linguistic deflection’, so Guardiola can sidestep the answer, which a lot of politicians do.

"When the interviewer decides to push on the question, Guardiola puts his hand in front of his face, that’s another self-reassurance gesture and he’s naturally giving himself a barrier to think of the correct answer. It’s called cognitive overload and Guardiola is displaying this gesture because he’s been caught unawares."