Pep to take over at Bayern in summer
Reuters - Wednesday 16 January 2013, 15:58
Bayern Munich have underlined the scope of their ambition by announcing
the appointment of spectacularly successful former Barcelona coach Pep
Guardiola to replace Jupp Heynckes from the end of this season.
Spaniard
Guardiola, 41, will take over from Heynckes, who has decided not to
extend his contract, in July and has agreed a deal until the end of June
2016.
"We are very pleased
that we have managed to convince the football expert Pep Guardiola, who
was coveted and contacted by many top clubs, to come to Bayern Munich,"
Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Wednesday.
He said Heynckes had decided to retire at the end of the season and Bayern were replacing him with the best coach on the market.
FEATURE Inside the mind of Pep Guardiola
"Pep
Guardiola is one of the world's most successful coaches and we are sure
that he can bring a great deal of sparkle not only to Bayern Munich but
to German football in general," he added.
Bayern's
announcement ended weeks of speculation about which club would win the
race to hire Guardiola, who announced this month he would return to
coaching next season after taking a year out to rest.
He
stepped down as Barca coach at the end of last term after leading the
La Liga club, where he began his career as a player, to 14 trophies in
four years, including two Champions League crowns and three Spanish
league titles in a row.
BIG COUP
It
is a significant coup for the German club, runners-up in Europe's elite
club competition last season, given that big-spending rivals, including
Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris St Germain, were reportedly also
hoping to hire Guardiola.
Bayern were also losing Champions League finalists in 2010 and their last European Cup win was in 2001.
It
is equally a boost for the booming Bundesliga which this season has
seen three of its clubs top their groups and move into the Champions
League knockout stages.
"We can only congratulate Bayern for signing Pep Guardiola," said German football league (DFL) managing director Andreas Rettig.
"This shows the international standing of the Bundesliga and with Guardiola there will be even more interest in the Bundesliga."
Speaking
to the English Football Association as part of the organisation's 150th
anniversary celebrations this week, Guardiola had said his ambition was
to manage in the Premier League.
Under
his guidance, his first top-flight coaching job, Barca won plaudits for
their entertaining, attacking brand of football based on domination of
possession and swift one-touch passing.
Many
credit Johan Cruyff, another former Barca player and coach, with
creating the club's distinctive style and Guardiola played under the
Dutchman in the 1990s when they won their first European Cup.
The
ex-Spain international also won praise for getting the best out of
quadruple World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, to whom he gave more
liberty to roam the pitch than his predecessor as coach Frank Rijkaard.
FORMER CHARGES
Whether Guardiola's philosophy and tactics will suit Bayern and the Bundesliga remains to be seen.
There
is also a question mark over whether he can manage a group of players
the majority of whom, unlike at Barca, did not come through the club's
academy.
One player at the
German club he knows well is Spain midfielder Javi Martinez, who joined
in the close season for a Bundesliga record of 40 million euros.
Guardiola may be
hoping to lure some of his former charges to Germany to join Martinez
and his imminent return to coaching has already prompted Barca president
Sandro Rosell to warn him off.
But
even if he does not attract former players, he can rely on cash-rich
Bayern to dig deep in their pockets to assemble a Champions
League-winning team according to his vision.
Bayern
are top of the Bundesliga with a nine-point lead after 17 matches. The
league resumes this week after a month-long winter break and they meet
Arsenal in the last 16 of the Champions League when the competition
resumes next month.
FEATURE Inside the mind of Pep Guardiola