Football
9y

Pep Guardiola won't join Man City, says Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

Pep Guardiola would not join "a club like Manchester City," according to Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Guardiola's future was placed in doubt after the 3-1 first leg defeat to Porto in the Champions League. He is widely regarded as City's top candidate to move to the Etihad Stadium should Manuel Pellegrini leave, with some reports claiming that he has even met up with City director of football Txiki Begiristain.

However, after masterminding a 6-1 win in the second leg, Guardiola reiterated his plans to still be at Munich in the next season and see out his contract until the summer of 2016. Rummenigge, meanwhile, is hopeful that the former Barcelona boss will extend his stay despite the interest of other clubs.

"I don't worry about that. It just shows the quality of our coach. I also know that Begiristain worked with Pep at Barcelona [as the director of football until 2010]," Rummenigge told Bild.

"But I can't imagine that Pep Guardiola will join a club like Manchester City. I know for sure that he will be our coach until June 30, 2016 at least."

Guardiola joined Bayern Munich in 2013 on a three-year contract and will begin discussions over a possible stay in Germany later this year, with Rummenigge convinced the "best and most sought after coach in the world" will commit his future to the club.

"We have an agreement. We'll finish this season, and we will talk in the second half of 2015," he said. "Our goal is to prolong with Pep Guardiola. And I think that we have good chances he'll be our coach beyond 2016."

In case Guardiola does decide to leave, former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believes the club should target Borussia Monchengladbach's Lucien Favre as his successor.

Favre, 57, was also a potential candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund before the appointment of Thomas Tuchel last weekend, but opted to stay at the Foals.

"Favre is a coach who has achieved incredible things with Gladbach," Hitzfeld told Sky. "He is a candidate at Bayern for sure, should Guardiola leave at some point."

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