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Pep Guardiola to... Arsenal?

Pep Guardiola to... Arsenal?

So, Pep Guardiola wants to manage in the Premier League. Let’s be honest, that’s not news in the slightest, but it is a good opportunity to discuss the superstar coach as the potential dream replacement for Arsene Wenger when he eventually chooses to leave his post at Arsenal.

In the modern game, there is a tiny and exclusive club of only a few managers who would be entrusted with the most high profile jobs in world football with no questions asked. You can name Jose Mourinho (if you then want to get into a debate with your friends), Carlo Ancelotti, maybe Diego Simeone, and of course Arsene himself if he wasn’t tied so inextricably to the Gunners, but perhaps the most sought after of all is Pep.

He was the epitome of what every club wishes they could have at the helm when he was appointed at Barcelona; a former star player who knew the club inside out, acclimatised themselves with the youth team before stepping into the top job and going on to bring almost non-stop success. After four years, and fourteen trophies at Barcelona, he moved onto Germany and Bayern Munich, and to date has picked up a further five honours in two and a half seasons there.

No wonder then, that every Premier League side with their eyes set on true and continual presence on the European level is seemingly positioning themselves to be Pep’s next chosen one. Chelsea soon realised this season that Mourinho was not going to be the one to forge a new era of dominance at Stamford Bridge for a second time, and with Guus Hiddink only employed on an interim basis until the end of the season, will surely make a move sooner or later.

Manchester United too look in a fairly precarious position with their current coach, and though Louis van Gaal does seem to have the backing of his squad, the Old Trafford faithful will surely be dreaming of the club finally appointing a true successor to Sir Alex Ferguson, with Pep, at just 44, having plenty of time to earn a stand christened in his name too.

Most people’s favourites for Guardiola’s next destination are the blue half of Manchester however, and it is not hard to see why. With former Barcelona Director of Football Txiki Begiristain part of the structure already at the Etihad, and Ferran Soriano acting as CEO, Pep would be amongst friends in Manchester. He is also reportedly after a ‘project’ for his next role, and what could be a better project than attempting to take City one step further than their Premier League titles, and establish them as a powerhouse of European football?

Well, perhaps a certain task that is on the horizon in North London, if not emerging into view with any particular immediacy.

In his press conference earlier today, Pep confirmed that he has ‘several offers from England’, but ‘[hasn’t] signed anything yet’, and there seems to be no rush for him to officially declare his plans for the future, especially as he still has one final half-season left in Bavaria, meaning that many Arsenal fans’ dream scenario is not yet out of the question.

As already mentioned, there is no hotter property in football management than Pep Guardiola, and so naturally, when Arsenal fans are presented with the question of who they would like to see ultimately take over from Arsene Wenger at the end of his tenure, it doesn’t take long for his name to be brought up.

Though there is no concrete evidence that Arsenal have anything with Pep in the works behind the scenes, there have been whisperings and murmurings that the Gunners should perhaps not yet be entirely ruled out of the running for his signature.

On many levels, the move would make sense for Pep himself. Arsenal are a club who, judging by his press conferences surrounding our numerous clashes against his sides in recent years, Guardiola holds a great deal of respect for (as well as for Arsene himself). Further, with Pep already comfortable working under the notion of a Director of Football, you could even make a case for Arsene stepping ‘upstairs’ into such a role if we were to deliver him the long-awaited Premier League title this season, and therefore continuing his legacy at the club, which I think many would be thankful for.

Not only this, but many see Pep as the perfect manager to continue Wenger’s legacy on the pitch; with an expressive style of play, a penchant for beautiful football and a similar tendency to bring through young talent into the first team. Sounds like he’d fit right in with what Arsenal fans have come to expect from their team.

In terms of the project itself, following Arsene after his two decades would be no easy feat, nor would be delivering Arsenal their first Champions League trophy, something that would potentially be made possible after the recent signings of Mesut Özil and Alexis, and the fact that the club has consistently been run in a self-sustaining way, meaning that there is plenty of cash in the bank (as any fan disgruntled with this summer’s transfer dealings will tell you).

Today however, following the press conference, Guillem Balague explained on Sky Sports News that City believe that they have done as much as they can to convince Pep to join them, and implied that Guardiola wants teams to ‘flirt’ with him in order to woo him into accepting their offer. This is something, you would have to assume, that Arsenal are simply not going to get involved in.

Arsene has a year and a half left on his current contract, and there is currently no suggestion that this one will not be followed immediately by another extension of similar length. Until it is clear that Arsene sees Pep as the natural replacement for himself, and would be willing to put in motion a plan to allow that to happen, I would assume that very little would be done to pursue such an idea behind the scenes.

With Pep clearly in no mood to take a sabbatical after 2015/16, in line to arrive at one of the Premier League’s top clubs in time for next season, and unlikely to jump ship from there, this summer would be Arsenal’s only real chance to secure his signature, if that is indeed the route they decide to go down, which in fact may in itself influence Arsene’s tricky decision over the coming months.

It is not impossible then to imagine a set of circumstances under which Pep leads out the team at the Emirates in August, but ultimately there are so many factors that would have to fall perfectly in place that I would suggest it is far more likely that he will be sitting in the opposition’s dugout at some point next season, as painful as that would be.