Bayern Munich intend to open talks with their coach Pep Guardiola over extending his contract beyond next summer at some stage this year, according to their chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Guardiola’s deal expires at the end of the 2015/16 season and neither he nor the Bavarian club have been in any rush to agree new terms.
Rummenigge last week said it would not be a “tragedy” if Guardiola did not stay on for a fourth season while beIN Sports reported at the weekend that an agreement was in place with Manchester City for Guardiola to take over there next summer.
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Those rumours will not alter Bayern’s road map with the Catalan coach, however, with Rummenigge saying everything is still going according to plan.
"Pep and I will hold talks over his future this year," he told Kicker magazine. "That is our agreement."
At the same time, Rummenigge rejected claims that Guardiola was not entirely satisfied with the transfers the German champions have made by insisting that the coach was involved in all the club’s transfer operations.
“It’s the club who decides about all transfers, but we do have to discuss them with the coach,” Rummenigge said.
“With Jupp Heynckes, this could go on for hours,” he said in reference to Guardiola’s predecessor. “The question I tend to ask is ‘where do you see this player playing?’ Only once did Pep say ‘I want this player’ and that was with Thiago [Alcantara].
“Guardiola is not as demanding as he is often made out to be. Some fairy tales get told.”
Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal is poised to complete his switch from Juventus to Bayern Munich in the coming days after flying to Bavaria yesterday for a medical.
The 28-year-old playmaker posted a picture of himself and agent Fernando Felicevich on Twitter yesterday sat on a plane with the caption: “A new stage ... a new dream ... Munich here we come.”
The Chilean international now has to pass a medical to complete the €35 million (Dh142.8m) transfer.
A key component in the Juventus team that reached last month’s Uefa Champions League final, Vidal is expected to slot into Bayern’s midfield as a replacement for Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has joined Manchester United.
Vidal is set for his second stint in the Bundesliga having spent four seasons at Bayer Leverkusen from 2007-2011.
Bayern will be bidding to make history by becoming the first team to win four consecutive Bundesliga titles.
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