Manchester City could face no opposition from their Premier League rivals to hire Pep Guardiola because other clubs believe his move to the Etihad Stadium is a done deal.
The former Barcelona manager announced last month he will leave Bayern Munich when his contract expires in the summer and said that his aim is to manage in England next.
And while the double Uefa Champions League winner’s brand of football and history of winning trophies would make him an attractive candidate to other clubs, their view is that he has already agreed to join City.
Guardiola said this week: “I want to experience a new city and I want to work in England. I’m at the right age and it is the right move for me.
“That is the reason I have taken this decision. I have several offers from England but I haven’t signed anything yet.”
While he insisted no contract has been finalised, it is regarded, some said, as an “open secret” within the game that he is bound for City.
Manchester United will not pursue Guardiola, partly because they are still backing Louis van Gaal, despite a run of only one win in their last nine games, but also because they are convinced he is destined for their neighbours.
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Chelsea are the only club who could challenge City. They will be looking for a successor to interim manager Guus Hiddink in the summer but, while Roman Abramovich has tried to hire Guardiola in the past, they are expected to look elsewhere, with Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone among the favourites for the job at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is now 66 but is under contract until 2017 and has shown few signs of planning to retire before then while Liverpool only hired Jurgen Klopp three months ago.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini’s deal also expires in 2017 but the 2014 Premier League leaders have a long-standing interest in Guardiola.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain worked with the 44-year-old during his time at the Nou Camp, when Guardiola won the Primera Liga three times and the Champions League twice.
Bringing Guardiola to Manchester would mark the end of City’s long pursuit of the most coveted manager in world football.
Pellegrini was appointed in 2013 after Guardiola, who was taking a year’s sabbatical following four seasons in charge of Barcelona, had decided Bayern would be his next destination.
City have persevered with the 62-year-old Chilean since then, rather than looking for any long-term appointment, and were quick to rule themselves out of the reckoning when both Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti became available last summer, instead giving Pellegrini a further year’s contract.
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The hope at City was that their facilities, including the state-of-the-art Etihad Campus training complex, would give them an advantage, even if United may be able to offer any manager a still larger transfer budget.
Guardiola’s stylish, attacking football fits into the ethos that City hope will be shared by all the clubs in the City Football Group.
His track record of securing silverware, with five league titles in six full seasons in charge, is also an attraction, along with a record of reaching at least the Champions League semi-finals in every year, whereas City are yet to qualify for the last eight.
He is on course to win a third successive Bundesliga title with Bayern, where he will be replaced by Ancelotti next summer.
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