Manchester City have confirmed that Pep Guardiola will succeed Manuel Pellegrini as the manager of the club at the end of the season.
City confirmed the news in a press release after Pellegrini announced at his pre-match press conference that he would be leaving at the end of the season.
"Manchester City can confirm that in recent weeks it has commenced and finals contractual negotiations with pep to become MCFC Head Coach for the 16/17 EPL season onwards. The contract is for three years. These negotiations were a re-commencement of discussions that were curtailed in 2012."
Speculation had been rife following Guardiola's announcement that he would be leaving Bayern at the end of this season, with several clubs mooted as destinations for the former Barcelona manager.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that Pep Guardiola's wife, Cristina, was shown around St. Bede’s College in Manchester by Txiki Begiristain, the club's director of football. The school have close ties with the club, with several academy players enrolled there which had driven speculation into overdrive.
It appears Manchester City have decided to act following Pellegrini's bombshell at the end of his press conference and announce the news before rumours and hearsay starts to build-up.
Manchester City do not have a Pep-ready squad and we are sure to see plenty of action during the summer to prepare the club for a serious Champions League push.
Guardiola has several links at Manchester City having worked with Begiristain and City's CEO Ferran Soriano.
Pellegrini might feel hard done by considering this stat:
64 - Manuel Pellegrini has won 64/99 PL games as a manager - the only boss to win more of his opening 99 PL games is Jose Mourinho (73). Off
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 1, 2016
It remains to be seen whether Pep can match or better that stat but we are sure he will come close based on the money, infrastructure and close links he has with the board members at the club.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
