Inside Manchester City on Pep Guardiola’s career decision as Ruben Amorim closes in on United move | OneFootball

A new report has revealed that those within Manchester City remain hopeful that Pep Guardiola will decide to extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium beyond this season.

The Catalan remains undecided on his Manchester City future despite having just a matter of months remaining on his existing contract, insisting to the media on various occasions that a decision has not been taken.

Reports in recent weeks have linked Etihad Stadium officials with the monitoring of various names from across Europe, particularly Xabi Alonso of Bayer Leverkusen – who continues to impress in the German game and in the UEFA Champions League.

And while those links continue in the wider media, the stance from within the club remains that they intend to continue with Pep Guardiola as their head coach beyond the decade mark, providing the 53-year-old holds the same desires.

However, plans for life beyond their greatest-ever manager continue to be developed quietly within the offices of the City Football Academy, and one report has pointed towards such plans find their way to the headquarters of rival teams.

According to the information of MailSport’s Mike Keegan, Manchester City remain ‘hopeful’ that Pep Guardiola will extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium beyond the end of the ongoing season.

While the report states that Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada was aware of his old club’s early contingency plans, insiders at City insist Ruben Amorim – who is heavily linked with the Old Trafford job – was not on any list to replace Pep Guardiola at the club.

Even if Pep Guardiola were to leave Manchester City at the end of the ongoing season, Keegan reports that the Premier League champions would seek someone who fits their style of play, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso ‘well regarded’.

Regardless of whether the aforementioned Ruben Amorim was on a list of potential candidates to replace Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, the current City boss has spoken highly of his managerial counterpart in recent addresses to the media.

“Only I can talk is about the experience I played twice against Ruben’s Sporting Lisboa team one or two seasons ago, and the impression was really, really good. I spoke with Matheus Nunes that was his player and he spoke highly about him,” Guardiola said earlier this week.

He continued, “And look at this season, he’s unbeaten winning all the games in the Portuguese league and the Champions League the same points with us. So a highly manager, so I have the feeling that if Man United, what I hear, is thinking about him it’s because he’s a good manager.

“United don’t appoint managers that don’t meet that level. All managers they’ve had in the last five, six, seven years we can’t say they are not able to lead United. What’s going to happen, I don’t know, and what happened in my experience here doesn’t mean it works others.”