Why City fit Pep and why he has not signed anything yet

So finally we know. Pep Guardiola will swap Germany’s Bundesliga for the English Premier League. But that’s not the end of the matter; not by a long chalk.

The burning question of course is… where?

You don’t say what Pep said about his future unless you know you have the chance to make it into the Premier League. That means conversations have taken place and messages have been sent. And I do believe him when he says nothing has been signed yet.

Only one man really knows the full answer and that of course is Pep himself and he, you won’t be surprised to hear, is saying nothing for the moment which actually is par for the course for a man that only told his players at Barcelona he was leaving an hour before it was announced to the world in a press conference.

The situation tells us a number of things. Firstly, it says that in Pep we have a manager that, in matters like this, plays his cards so close to his chest any attempt to remove them would probably require surgical intervention.

But secondly, and far more importantly, it shows us that the four most successful sides in the history of the richest league in the world (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United) would do just about anything they possibly could if they could ensure bringing him into their club.

If you ever wanted proof – if proof was needed – that Guardiola is the best manager around then there you have it.

So where’s he going then?

Let’s start with the bookies -they seem fairly sure he will end up at the Etihad. The best odds you can get on the man from Santpedor becoming City’s new coach are presently 1/6 and shortening by the day. More on that later.

Football’s hopeless romantics, those 2XL shirt-wearing badge-kissers that harp on about the return of the glory-days and the importance of not just winning, but playing the game in a certain way would love to see him either at Manchester United or Arsenal, two clubs that, more than most, enjoy the greatest historical tradition and embody the stereotypical romantic idealism that inhabits the world of football.

And then of course there’s Chelsea who in Roman Abramovich have an owner accustomed to getting his own way.

Any thoughts that the Russian billionaire was going to sack Jose Mourinho then look on placidly while the manager he had coveted for years headed north were fanciful.

Roman Abramovich did everything he could to persuade Pep to join Chelsea after the former Barcelona manager took a sabbatical before opting for Bayern Munich and has launched a similar ‘name your price’ campaign this time around.

Pep may well not end up at Chelsea yet again but be assured of one thing; if he doesn’t it won’t have been for the want of trying from Mr Abramovich, and as things stand, Chelsea genuinely believe they are still at the races.

Unquestionably the best financial offer will have come from Stamford Bridge but money has never been Guardiola’s raison d’etre. If that was the case he would almost certainly have taken their offer instead of joining Bayern Munich after having left Barcelona.

No, it will be destiny not dollars that will probably entice him to the Etihad; why settle for merely being, arguably, the greatest coach of all time when you are given the chance to become a legend in the establishment of the greatest ever project in the history of football?

My sources at the Etihad tell me that they are confident that the Catalan coach will be with them from the start of next season, that they have done enough to convince him.

If it does happen – and I repeat IF – it would see Guardiola re-united with former Barcelona colleagues and friends, Txiki Beguiristain and Ferran Soriano, now director of football and CEO at Manchester City respectively, as well as with Rodolfo Borrell, the former Barcelona and Liverpool Academy coach and now Global Technical director at City and Joan Patsy, the former advisor and close friend to Johan Cruyff.

It would see him joining a club that has only recently announced a new $400 million partnership that will see a consortium of Chinese businesses comprising media, entertainments, sports and internet interests (China Media Capital) Holdings take a 13% stake in the City Football Group (CFG) and in the words of the club “create an unprecedented platform for the growth of CFG clubs and companies in China and internationally.

His appointment would be the latest – and certainly most important – piece in the jigsaw of what is the biggest football project in the world bar none, and sees the club look to establish for itself a global brand while simultaneously creating – with Chinese help, and not without a certain irony – its very own dynasty.

City meanwhile are trying to convince Neymar or Messi to join them. That is the measure of their ambition.

Over and above everything else the main reason that City are red hot favourites to secure his signature is because it was only ever going to be a project like the one in progress at City that could have succeeded in prising the all-conquering former Barcelona coach from Bayern Munich, the organisation dubbed ‘Club Hollywood’ by the country’s football fans.

Coming from Barcelona, a team that has always proclaimed that it is ‘mes que un club’ or ‘more than just a club’ Guardiola has never been attracted by a quick fix, or rapid and ephemeral success.

It was precisely those long-standing traditions and historical values in place at Bayern Munich that drew him there in preference to the biggest and richest soccer clubs in the world who formed an orderly queue at his door in a bid to obtain his services.

And what will have enticed him away from Germany to England – to City – will be all about building something, not just for the moment, but for generations to come.

To a club who under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed has overseen the building of the new Manchester City academy at a cost estimated between £150 and £200 million that sits on a 80 acre former brownfield site adjacent to the Etihad stadium and that is the envy of the football world.

The CFG under its parent company, the Abu Dhabi United Group also owns football clubs in New York City and Melbourne City. The Chinese partnership will allow the group to develop a strong commercial arm in Chinese as they promote all of their clubs in the largest potential market for soccer and all its offshoots in the entire world.

Pep could be the Ferguson, the Sacchi, the Di Stefano, the Cruyff of City. You cannot tell me that is not exciting.

Guardiola’s first task would be to try to get the club to play the way he wants it to and this would be a slow transition that could take at least a couple of years.

It would undoubtedly involve a huge change in personnel with at least one third of the present playing staff being moved out within the first year and around another third the following season.

Players like David Silva, Hart or Aguero would survive the cut but he would also cast his net far and wide in a search for the type of midfielders that can pass the ball and understand and play the positional game (mixed with the essential characteristics of the Premier League) he would be looking for.

For me, Guardiola is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. A man who constantly re-invents the wheel, and who has effectively shown us what modern football will be like in 10 to 15 years.

I can’t think of a better fit than his joining forces with a club and colleagues that share his dreams and ambitions and also possess the financial and emotional wherewithal to make that journey with him.

But wherever he goes, one thing we know for sure is that it will be in the Premier League. I can’t wait.