Pep Guardiola set to join Man City

Pep Guardiola

The arrival of the Bayern Munich boss has been a long time in the making but even Manuel Pellegrini's announcement of the news came as a shock midway through the season.


Manuel Pellegrini shocked the media at his press conference on Monday by confirming that he would be leaving the club at the end of the current campaign before City themselves revealed Guardiola would be the man to take over.
As reported extensively by Goal, this has been a deal that has been a long time in the making before everything was signed off last week.
Pellegrini spoke with his squad to confirm the news on Monday morning, and will now concentrate on trying to win four trophies in his final season at the Etihad Stadium.
But now all eyes switch to next season and what Guardiola will bring to the blue side of Manchester as one of the world's most sought-after coaches arrives in the Premier League.

In its statement announcing Guardiola’s hiring, Manchester City said, “These negotiations were a re-commencement of discussions that were curtailed in 2012.” There was plenty of speculation at that time that Guardiola was City’s first choice for manager, and that Pellegrini was a fallback plan.

The specter of the highly successful Guardiola on the way to Manchester City may put real pressure on crosstown rivals Manchester United to dump their manager, Louis Van Gaal, and go for the charismatic Jose Mourinho, recently fired by Chelsea.

Chelsea is also in need of a permanent manager, meaning that of England’s big four, only Arsenal, where Arsene Wenger is in his 20th year, has been maintaining any manager stability.