Pep Guardiola set to leave Bayern Munich

Independent reports from Christian Falk of SportBILD and Jose Felix Diaz of Marca state that Pep Guardiola has informed the Bayern Munich board that he will not be renewing his contract and will be leaving at the end of this season. Former Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is rumored to replace him and take over the reigning Bundesliga Champions at the Allianz Arena. Trailing them in the odds is undoubtedly the safest pair of hands, José Mourinho.

Pep Guardiola has chose to leave Bayern Munich and is expected to take charge of a Premier League club next summer.

As for Guardiola, he will inevitably be linked with Manchester City.

Kicker detailed a variety of reasons for his decision, and said that repeated assertions from Guardiola and the club that the final decision would be made when the winter break begins this weekend were “never credible”.

Given the presence of the chief executive, Ferran Soriano, and the director of football, Txiki Begiristain, at the Etihad, both of whom he worked with at Barça, the former Spain global has been tipped for the City manager’s job several times.

Guardiola, 44, is halfway through the third and final year of his current contract and says he will announce his decision to stay or go before December 25.

He won two Champions League finals against United as a manager in 2009 and 2011, but Ferguson’s side did knock Barcelona out of the competition on their way to winning the trophy in 2008.

Bayern have offered Guardiola £16million a year to stay, and the 41-year-old was tempted by the offer, but is understood to have chose to leave for the chance to manage in the Premier Leage.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has said he will do all he can to keep the Spaniard in Munich.

City, meanwhile, are third and very much in a position to win the title, but have at times lacked a cutting edge under manager Manuel Pellegrini.

‘He always joked the day I stopped being his assistant he’d have to pack it all in and retire.

City’s rivals Manchester United have entered the fray as possible future employers to replace Louis van Gaal following poor results and their Champions League exit.