Pep Guardiola has been sounded out about becoming England’s next manager and is expected to decide on his future in the coming weeks.
It is understood the Football Association made informal contact with the Catalan at the start of this season. While the FA is considering other candidates and no decision has been made on a permanent successor to Gareth Southgate, Guardiola would be the standout option should he choose to end his tenure at Manchester City. Lee Carsley, who was put in interim charge, is not expected to remain in the running.
Guardiola, who is yet to respond to the FA, is out of contract at the end of the season and has not decided his next move. City want the 53-year-old to extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium into a tenth season.
When asked about his future on Sunday, Guardiola said on the Italian TV show Che Tempo Che Fa: “Leaving City? It’s not true, I haven’t decided yet. And it is not even true that I will be the next England coach. If I had decided I would say it . . . I don’t know either, anything can happen.”
Southgate resigned as England manager after losing in the Euro 2024 final
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No one better fits the criteria outlined in the FA’s job advertisement, posted in July, than Guardiola. It said the governing body wants a manager with “significant experience of English football, with a strong track record delivering results in the Premier League and/or leading international competitions” as well as someone “experienced in identifying, managing and developing English-qualified players”.
• Read more: Thomas Tuchel in advanced talks to become England manager
Guardiola has led City to four successive Premier League titles and won the Treble in 2023 while producing several players for the England team, including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis.
He is not the only manager who fits the bill. Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and is out of work, is thought to be an attractive option for the FA. He has a good relationship with Harry Kane, having signed the England captain for Bayern Munich.
Despite also appearing a suitable candidate, Jürgen Klopp was not approached, with the FA aware he wanted an extended break from frontline management after leaving Liverpool in July.
Guardiola said on Sunday that nothing has been decided about his future, adding “anything can happen”
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Carsley is leading the side for six Uefa Nations League games and during that time the FA has been conducting a confidential process in which candidates fitting its criteria have been sounded out.
After England’s victory over Finland in Helsinki on Sunday, Carsley said the country needed “a world-class coach who has won trophies” and that he lacks the necessary credentials at this stage of his career.
The FA intends to keep the details of its search, and of any discussions with coaches, confidential. Installing Carsley for the autumn Nations League programme initially offered breathing space, but last Thursday’s defeat by Greece and Carsley’s mixed messages about whether he sees himself continuing in the job have accelerated the need to conclude the recruitment process.
Guardiola will make a decision in the coming weeks as he wants to make sure that he does not leave City in the lurch if he decides to depart. Out of respect to City, he wants to give them clarity on his future as early as possible so they have enough time to sound out a potential replacement if he leaves.
Guardiola was pictured in Abu Dhabi during the international break. Although he was there for commercial reasons, The Times understands that Guardiola also met with the City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
If anyone can convince Guardiola to stay at City, it is Al Mubarak, who has a strong relationship with the 53-year-old. The strength of that relationship became clear this time four years ago when Guardiola, who was expected to leave his post at the end of the 2020-21 season, went on holiday with the City chairman to the Maldives, where he was persuaded to extend his contract for another two years. City staff spoke of their shock at the news and put the extension down to Al Mubarak.
Guardiola originally signed a three-year contract when he joined in 2016, but City have persuaded him three times since to extend his deal. Another of Guardiola’s long-standing friends, City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, will leave City at the end of the campaign. Guardiola is extremely close to the 60-year-old, who is a former Barcelona team-mate.
“One of the reasons I extended my contract two times is because Txiki is here,” Guardiola said in 2021. “We work together incredibly well.”
Begiristain has decided he will leave his position next summer after 12 years at the club. He will be replaced by Hugo Viana of Sporting Lisbon.
• Read more: Why is the FA taking so long to find a permanent England manager?
The FA said it would consider foreign candidates to succeed Southgate when he quit his position after the European Championship final defeat by Spain. Some FA board members argued forcefully that it should be an English manager but it was finally agreed that any candidate with experience of English football should also be considered, allowing Guardiola to be sounded out. Other managers thought to be of interest to the FA are Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe and Graham Potter, who has been out of work since he was sacked by Chelsea in April 2023.
There is a belief among coaching staff at St George’s Park that Guardiola is top of the FA list.
If he does become England manager, he would be the third foreign appointment, after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. Unlike the other two, Guardiola has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to England’s pool of footballers because he has worked in the country for so long, winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, one Club World Cup and a Champions League, and is a huge fan of the English domestic game.
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