Fabrizio Romano has provided exclusive insight into how close Pep Guardiola really came to becoming Manchester United manager in the past.
The Spanish tactician has long been regarded as one of the very finest managers in world football, ever since that memorable debut season in charge of Barcelona in 2008/09.
That legendary Barca side won the treble, and he later won another Champions League title in 2010/11, with further success soon to follow in his time at Bayern Munich.
It was around this time that there was talk of Man Utd being interested in Guardiola as they searched for the perfect successor to Sir Alex Ferguson, but Romano insists it was never anything particularly advanced.
Writing in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside via Substack, Romano explained that the two managers did meet around that time, but that it’s normal for the game’s best coaches to chat together.
“Ahead of the Manchester Derby, I’ve also had questions about how close Guardiola ever came to taking the job at Old Trafford. It’s something that there’s been a lot of speculation about over the years, but what’s the truth to the story?” Romano wrote.
“Honestly, it was nothing big or advanced. Guardiola has admitted that in 2014 he had a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson, but it’s normal to have conversations between top managers and top clubs in football.
“Ferguson has always rated Guardiola very highly but Pep was very clear in all the stages and choices of his career. It was not something close at any stage.”
Guardiola’s Manchester City side take on the Red Devils in today’s Manchester Derby, in what promises to be an intriguing clash against Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag will be the fourth United manager Guardiola has faced since he took over at City in 2016, having also come up against Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and caretaker manager Ralf Rangnick.
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