Pep Guardiola has reportedly already told Manchester City that he wants another elite club’s manager to replace him, despite links with Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca emerging.
Guardiola’s future is once again uncertain despite the Manchester City boss signing a two-year contract to extend his stay at the club in November 2024.
The Spaniard has been City’s head coach since 2016 and has won six Premier League titles and one UEFA Champions League with the club, as well as several other trophies.
However, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, the Premier League club are sounding out a potential replacement for Guardiola if he chooses to leave at the end of the current season.
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The report suggests that ‘well-placed’ sources believe there’s growing anticipation that the 2025/26 season will be Guardiola’s last in charge of the Manchester club, with a ‘firm decision’ on his future likely to be made near the end of the campaign.
As a result, City are planning for who could replace Guardiola, with current Chelsea boss Maresca supposedly admired by the club’s hierarchy, having worked at City on two separate occasions - first as a youth coach in 2020/21 before becoming a first team assistant to Pep for the 2022/23 treble-winning season.
Maresca has since managed Leicester City and Chelsea, where he won the Conference League and Club World Cup last term.
But in recent weeks, the Italian has appeared unhappy in his press conferences, claiming that he experienced the worst 48 hours of his career at Stamford Bridge after his side’s 2-0 win against Everton last weekend.
The Athletic’s report claims that Maresca will be in the running but won’t be the only contender to replace Guardiola.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has already suggested that current Bayern Munich head coach and former City captain Vincent Kompany will one day become his former club’s head coach.
“His destiny to be manager of City is already written in the stars,” Guardiola told Man City.com in 2023.
“It’s going to happen. I don’t know when, but it’s going to happen.”
At the time, Kompany was Burnley’s head coach, but he has since joined six-time European champions Bayern Munich, with whom he won the 2024/25 Bundesliga title.
Kompany made 360 appearances for City between 2008 and 2019, a period during which he helped the club win 12 major trophies, including four Premier League titles.
The Belgian also captained the club between 2011 and 2019.
It is unclear if Kompany, who is contracted to Bayern until June 2029, would be willing to leave the Bundesliga side to take up the potentially soon-to-be vacant Manchester City head coach’s role.
The former centre-back was asked about joining City earlier this month but insisted that he had “zero thoughts” about other teams.
The 39-year-old said: “I can’t think that far ahead. My focus is on Bayern and what we can achieve now.
“I like to live in the world in front of me right now – that takes up all my time. I have zero thoughts about other teams; I only see FC Bayern.”
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Premier League, Enzo Maresca, Chelsea, Football, Vincent Kompany
Luke Davies