Risky move: Serial winner Pep Guardiola ready for a Premier League gamble with Manchester City
The Citizens pulled off a spectacular coup by naming the Spaniard as their manager from next season, but the super-coach admits he is taking a ‘risk’
Manchester City pulled off a spectacular coup on Monday by naming Pep Guardiola as their manager from next season, but the Spanish super-coach admitted that he is taking a “risk”.
I want to sample the atmosphere, the emotions. I know it’s a risk, but it’s exactly what I love
Guardiola, who leaves Bayern Munich at the end of the season, will take over from Chilean Manuel Pellegrini on a three-year deal reportedly worth more than £15 million (HK$168.2 million) a year.
Even though City are still in contention for four trophies, including the Champions League and the English Premier League, Pellegrini said he knew the club’s Abu Dhabi owners were in talks with Guardiola and supported the move to announce his appointment now.
“If I were 55 or 60 years old, I’d stay (at Bayern) until Karl-Heinz Rummenigge or Matthias Sammer said, ‘Enough,’” Guardiola said.
But he said that he could not finish his career “without experiencing England”.
“I want to sample the atmosphere, the emotions,” he added. “I know it’s a risk, but it’s exactly what I love.”