Wait, Are Manchester United Now Favourites To Land Pep Guardiola?

As the old saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire. That smoke is particularly hard to diminish when you have hoards of Manchester United fans looking for the flames too.

Just ask the club officials who have been forced to deny that United held a meeting with Pep Guardiola last week in Paris, where it’s been alleged that they spoke to the Spaniard about replacing Louis Van Gaal.

This news originally came courtesy of France Football, who insisted that the current Bayern Munich manager sat down with United officials at the French capital’s Hotel Bristol.

We’ll probably never know if the meeting actually took place. Obviously Manchester United were always going to deny it, since Louis Van Gaal’s deal runs until 2017, and it would be deemed untoward if the club pursued a new manager while he was still under contract.

But just the tease of this rumour was enough to send Manchester United fans into a frenzy that the club will actually appoint Pep Guardiola.

It’s been well-documented how disappointed the Old Trafford faithful have been, not only with Van Gaal’s recent results that have left United languishing in fifth, but with his style of play too. Pep Guardiola is seen as the antidote to that.

Which isn’t surprising considering that Guardiola has claimed five titles in Spain and Germany, as well as two Champions Leagues, all of which was won while playing an enthralling, attacking brand of football.

Guardiola has made it known that he wants to manage in England next. Manchester City were widely believed to be the favourites to get Pep, with Chelsea second, and then Manchester United and Arsenal deemed as outsiders. Fans of all four clubs would take the Spaniard in an instant though.

That order is still probably the same. But there are Manchester United supporters who see Pep Guardiola as the rightful heir to Sir Alex Ferguson, who believe that it should have been Pep, instead of David Moyes, who took over from the legendary Scot.

Unfortunately, Pep had already agreed to become Bayern Munich coach before Ferguson’s retirement was announced. But his repeated declarations of admiration for Ferguson and Manchester United, especially the size and history of the club – something that Chelsea and City are lacking in comparison - have always left Red Devils fans with a sneaking suspicion that he would one day inherit the Old Trafford dugout.

With many United fans still unhappy with Van Gaal, they believe that the time is nigh for the club to strike and get Guardiola, before Manchester City or Chelsea acquire his services. At the moment that’s still just a pipedream.

But if Manchester United make it known that they would drop Van Gaal for Guardiola then they would soon become favourites.

And if speculation like the above continues to emerge then that will only stoke the flames of the rumour that most of United’s contingent is dreaming will soon become a reality.

[Images via Getty/Lars Baron & Getty/Alex Livesey ]