Pep Guardiola has already told players who the next Manchester City manager will be

Pep Guardiola is believed to have suggested his possible successor after a game during the 2022/23 campaign.

The 53-year-old, who was named Manchester City manager in 2016, has enjoyed a trophy-laden spell at the Etihad, lifting six league titles and a Champions League.

It will be an almost impossible task to follow in the footsteps of Guardiola.

But it looks the club will have to prepare for his departure after it emerged that the Spaniard is set to leave City at the end of next season, according to the Daily Mail.

Unsurprisingly the Premier League champions want him to remain in charge for the foreseeable future and will give him time to make a final decision as he nears the end of his contract.

That being said, club chiefs have a four-man shortlist in mind to replace arguably their greatest manager ever.

One of the names on that shortlist is Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, who has a big admirer in Guardiola.

In fact, after the Seagulls played out a 1-1 draw against City in May 2023, the former Barcelona boss made his intentions clear as he walked down the Amex tunnel.

According to a report from The Telegraph, Guardiola approached three Brighton players as they celebrated securing European football for the first time in their history.

Here, he nodded towards De Zerbi and said, "That’s the next Man City manager."

As mentioned previously, Guardiola is a huge fan of De Zerbi.

Ahead of their clash in May, Pep said the Italian was "one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years" during his pre-match press conference.

When asked if he was impressed by the Brighton manager, Guardiola said: “Pay attention to what I’m about to say because I’m convinced in what I’m saying that [Roberto De Zerbi] is one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years. There is no team that plays the way they play, it’s unique."

Image credit: Getty

Guardiola added: “Congratulations to Brighton for this incredible achievement of getting into Europe. I had the feeling that when he arrived I had an idea the impact he would have on the Premier League would be great but I couldn’t expect him to do it in such a short time.

“They create on average 20-25 chances per game. They monopolise the ball in a way that hasn't been seen for a long time. Everybody is involved - the goalkeeper is like a holding midfielder.”

On learning from Roberto De Zerbi's style of play, Guardiola continued: “Brighton is a master of passing the ball to a man who is free, but also knowing when to pass the ball.

“They know how to move at the right time. They have the right tempo to pass to the man free. How aggressive they are with the ball they continued from Graham Potter because I think he installed something really good.”