Premier League:  Pep may be ready to say goodbye

When you’ve won six Premier League titles, a Champions League crown, and a bagful of FA and Carabao Cups for your club as a manager, you can pretty much decide your own departure date. Such is the situation with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola with some thinking the Catalan may be preparing to pull the plug on his amazingly successful era for the now Mancunian giants.

The rumours swirling around the Etihad Stadium at Eastlands is that Guardiola is ready to leave come the summer and already the speculation has started as to who will replace the most successful manager of the 21 Century in the Premier League.

Moving time

Indeed, there was strong hints that Guardiola was ready to leave last season and only signed a one-year extension to his contract on the behest of the club’s owners as they were not prepared for the replacement process. Again, this is speculation, and Guardiola has not relented in his pursuit of a seventh title this season and is just six points behind the leaders Arsenal. And when we consider that he has worked hard in transitioning so many new players into his squad and you may wonder if he will hang around a bit longer.

Still, there is no doubt that the vibe at City is certainly pointing to a club preparing for alternatives come June or at least next year. Either way, the prospect of a change will be a daunting task in the mind of City owners and fans alike.

Of course, fans of other clubs will point to the still unresolved 115 charges over financial doping at the club as an asterisk over Guardiola’s success. Yet Pep was quick to point out this week that City were fifth in the Premier League clubs spending table over the past five seasons as some vindication of his tenure, ignoring that the structures on the funding in question were in place before he took charge at City. Nevertheless, even the most ardent anti City fan would admit that Guardiola quality would have shone through at the club even if the money was there or not.

The options

Understandably, the owners will take their time on finding anyone who can closely mirror the abilities of Guardiola.

The idea of a Guardiola departure this season’s came to the fore when former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca claimed that he held conversations with the City bosses at the end of last year. Maresca has the advantage, it could be argued, of previously working closely with Guardiola as his assistant coach at City and would be familiar with Guardiola’s structures and the system at City.

Xabi Alonso’s name appears regularly whenever a high-profile job occurs. The Spaniard played under Guardiola when he was a player at Bayern. And is more familiar than most managers with the Premier League game after his long and successful career at Liverpool. As a manager, he made his name at Bayer Leverkusen but then crashed out of the job in Real Madrid after just six months on the job. Even though that may have had more to do with internal issues than the lack of success on the field.

One thing militating an Alonso move to City would be a potential move to Liverpool should that club also decide to part ways with Arne Slot at the end of the season.

Sticking with a Bayern Munich-City connection, another name in the mix is Vincent Kompany the current manager at the Bavarian giants. The appointment of Kompany, a former club captain and legend, would be immensely popular among City fans. The Belgian made his name at the Etihad and may wish to go there at some point. But it may arrive too soon as he is still building an impressive resume in the Bundesliga and Allianz Arena.

City may also consider another of Guardiola's former players, Cesc Fabregas. The ex-Arsenal and Chelsea player worked under Guardiola at Barcelona and is gathering a lot of admirers for his work at unfashionable Serie A side Como.

Timing

Whatever the decision on Guardiola’s replacement, the owners would be advised not to leave it run into next season. If it is known that Guardiola is definitely leaving at the end of next year, there is a certain danger that players’ form will drop off whether it’s intentional or not. This happened with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. Once it was announced that he was leaving there was a groundswell of good will to win it all for Klopp but despite the best intentions the side trailed off at the end of the season as it’s hard to concentrate on titles as a player, as uncertainty over the future while working for a manager that won’t be there in a couple of months creeps into the equation. With the Maresca statement out there now it could be argued that the relative drop in City form has started already.