Man City facing pivotal month as five potential Pep Guardiola successors assessed

Pep Guardiola has been linked with a move to take over the England team following talks with FA chiefs but it appears his current club Man City already have a plan in place should he leave

Manchester City will give Pep Guardiola as much time as he needs to decide if this will be his last season in charge.

Guardiola is out of contract at the end of this season and has yet to decide if he will sign an extension that would take him to a decade in charge of City.

Although City have begun the process of assessing potential successors, should Guardiola decide to go at the end of the season, they have not given up hope of persuading him to stay on.

The 53-year-old signed his last contract extension, a new two-year deal, during the November international break in 2022, and next month could see him make another defining decision.

Although England are understood to have sounded out Guardiola and his representatives about the vacant Three Lions job, he is not thought to be a serious contender to succeed Gareth Southgate.

If Guardiola does decide this will be his last campaign at City, after nine years in charge, the Catalan could decide to take a break from football – as he did when he left Barcelona in 2012.

The decision by City’s sporting director, Txiki Begiristain, to leave his role at the end of this season after 12 years, has fuelled the belief that Guardiola could take the same course of action.

Guardiola has long praised the key role his former Barcelona team-mate and close friend Begiristain has played in his success at City and may decide to bow out at the same time.

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In terms of potential successors, Spaniard Michel, head coach at City’s sister club Girona, has put himself in the frame after guiding the Spanish club to the Champions League.

Sporting boss Ruben Amorim is also likely to be in the mix, given his close relationship with Hugo Viana, City’s incoming new director of football.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank and former Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi would also be under consideration, as would former City captain Vincent Kompany, currently in his first season at Bayern Munich.

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