Manchester City “will be interested” in a title-winning manager to replace Pep Guardiola when the time comes for him to move on.
Guardiola assesses Man City's title chances
City make the trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League this weekend, looking to stay in touch with Arsenal and continue their good recent form, especially Erling Haaland.
When asked about the state of the title race on Friday, Guardiola gave a rather sarcastic response, but also feels positive about where his team are at currently.
“Our mentality and our body language are in the right spo,t and it will make us stable but (we need to) play better during 95 minutes. In the first two games, three games, for sure we are out and Liverpool is already done, and now it looks like Liverpool is done, and I tell you that they will be back.
“I said many times, I know all the pundits, all the specialists, former players, they know everything that is going to happen after five games. I’m not able to do that. I always wait 10, 15 games to know exactly what is going on but I think obviously Liverpool, Arsenal are there, someone else will be there, and hopefully we can be there.”
It remains to be seen how long Guardiola will stay in charge of City, but he will need to be replaced eventually, and an interesting name has been mentioned as an option to come in.
Title-winning manager backed to succeed Guardiola
Writing for Sky Germany, relayed by Sport Witness, Didi Hamann revealed Vincent Kompany could replace Guardiola at Manchester City one day, and Bayern’s recent contract extension may well have been designed to ward off the interest from the Etihad.
“FC Bayern extended Kompany’s contract until 2029, even though he still had 20 months left on his contract. I mean, the extension wasn’t a must, but I understand why they did it.
“Bayern probably have in mind that Manchester City will be interested in Kompany at some point when Pep Guardiola retires. It would be interesting to know if Kompany has a clause in his contract. Christoph Freund didn’t reveal anything about that on Wednesday evening, but he didn’t completely deny it either.”
Kompany’s status as a playing legend at City, and the fact that he is now a Bundesliga champions in charge of Bayern Munich, does make him a fairly obvious contender to be Guardiola’s successor at the Etihad.
At 39, he is an exciting manager who is growing all the time, with Bayern youngster’s Tom Bischof recent comments highlighting the effect he is having at Bayern, who are off to their best start to a season in their storied history.
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City fans will hope that Guardiola is still around for years to come, with the Spaniard showing few signs of wanting to move on, but Kompany should be kept an eye on as a leading option, assuming he continues to impress at Bayern.