Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola would prefer to manage Manchester United when he leaves the Bavarian giants, according to the Daily Mail.
Reports in Spain on Thursday suggested that the former Barcelona manager would be leaving Munich at the end of the season to take over at Manchester City, but the Mail’s sources suggest otherwise.
Guardiola is in the third and final year of his contract with the Bundesliga champions, but Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge admitted on Thursday that the club has not started negotiations over extending the Spaniard’s stay in Munich:
It is not planned to push back that date. We have always said there will be a decision in 2015. I know that it’s late, just days before Christmas. But the talks will be held after the Hannover match, and we’ll then announce a decision.
It always continues. There is no person in this world who can’t be replaced at some point. That’s the state of things. Players come, players go, and the same applies to coaches. They come and they go at one point.
City have always harboured hopes of bringing the two-time Champions League winner to the Etihad Stadium, having brought in chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who both worked with Guardiola at Barcelona.
And Guardiola’s agent Josep Maria Orobit was in England on Thursday and Friday, prompting speculation that a deal had been agreed to take him to City at the end of the season.
However, the Mail’s sources state that the 44-year old wants his next job to be in England, but would prefer to manage United.
This is despite Louis van Gaal being under contract at Old Trafford until 2017, but Guardiola reportedly does not want to undermine the Dutchman, so the Spaniard could possibly take another sabbatical after leaving Bayern at the end of the season.
