Guardiola at Bayern Munich: Time for some Bavarian Salsa!
Pep Guardiola has been the most sought-after manager in the world of football. And there’s a good reason for that. He made Barcelona an unstoppable force during his tenure as their manager from 2008 to 12, winning three straight Spanish league titles and two Champions League crowns. He also won 178 of the 246 matches he managed the Catalan giants in and maintained an incredible win percentage of 72.4. So it came as quite a shock when he suddenly decided to call it a day on his managing career at the Nou Camp and take a year-long sabbatical.
But it was hardly a surprise that a lot of clubs started knocking on his door. Foremost among them was Chelsea, who had just fired their FA Cup and Champions League winning manager Roberto Di Matteo. Also among the frontrunners to sign him were the oil-cash laden Manchester City, who have been rumoured to be very dissatisfied with things under Roberto Mancini this season and may sack him over the summer. However, these clubs may may have provided Guardiola with a seven-sum salary figure, but they do not provide the stability that had been a key feature during his time at Barcelona, something that Sheikh Mansour or the trigger-happy Roman Abramovich do not guarantee.
All speculation was put to rest on the 16th of January 2013 when Bayern Munich announced that Guardiola would be the one replacing Jupp Heynckes from the next season. And now that I think about it, it all makes perfect sense as Bayern have an amazing youth system, perhaps the best in Germany. This was another key feature of his time at Barcelona, having brought the best out of La Masia graduates like Pedro Rodriguez, Sergio Busquets, and making Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi the most feared footballing trio in the world. Bayern are a financially stable club and also possess a rich history among the powerhouses of Europe. They also have the ability to attract world-class players and also happen to have a few of them like Manuel Neuer, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gomez. It is a club that virtually guarantees him another successful reign of titles and they can also adapt to his style of possession football. But most importantly, he will have a free reign over how things would be run at the Bavarian club.
With that, I certainly look forward to his stint at the helm of Bayern Munich. It would certainly make a league as competitive as the Bundesliga more interesting from next season. Admit it; you can’t wait for the tactical battles between Klopp and Guardiola to begin.