Pep Guardiola To Replace Manuel Pellegrini As Manchester City Manager

Manchester City announced on Monday that Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola will take over as manager on a three-year contract beginning next season.

Pep Guardiola To Replace Manuel Pellegrini As Manchester City Manager

Guardiola is set to replace Manuel Pellegrini, who ended a pre-game news conference minutes before City’s announcement by stating that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Guardiola also announced in December that he would be leaving Bayern at the end of this season, after three years in charge and after cementing his status as soccer’s most sought-after coach.

Man City has also become a very powerful team. Backed by Abu Dhabi cash since 2008, the club has been transformed into the most successful in England of recent times, with two league titles and two cup competitions since 2011 and an all-star squad that includes players like Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne.

“In recent weeks, (City) has commenced and finalized contractual negotiations with Pep Guardiola to become head coach for the 2016-17 EPL season onwards,” City said in a short statement. “These negotiations were a re-commencement of discussions that were curtailed in 2012.”

That was the same year Guardiola quit Barcelona, and the same year City added two former Barca executives, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Beguiristain — to its board.

With Bayern, Guardiola has gone on to win back-to-back German league titles, the German Cup and both the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

Pellegrini could have a chance of being considered City’s most successful manager: he won the Premier League and the League Cup in his first season in charge in 2013, and is in contention for four trophies this season.

Pellegrini claims to have known he was being replaced a month ago.

“There has been a lot of speculation about things,” Pellegrini said, “but they (the club) are not doing anything behind me.”

City has lived in the shadow of neighbor and rival Manchester United for many years, but owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan — a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family — is changing the landscape of English soccer with his work at City.

Caption: BEIJING, CHINA – JULY 17: Head coach Pep Guardiola of Bayern looks on during the a press conference at National Stadium in day 1 of the FC Bayern Audi China Summer Pre-Season Tour on July 17, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)