The challenge ahead for Guardiola in Manchester

Pep Guardiola now has a real challenge on his hands, turning Manchester City into the flag bearers of British football. He’s done a good job at Bayern Munich, but the Bavarians have been cruising to league titles for decades in a Bundesliga low in competitiveness. If he fails to win the Champions League this season, Herr Pep could end up being just another footnote in the German club’s illustrious history. The task ahead at the Etihad will involve much more than just adding silverware, something the man currently in the job, Manuel Pellegrini, has already achieved. The former Barcelona coach has been recruited to shake up the order of things in the homeland of football. Pep is viewed as an alchemist of sorts, a foreign mystic capable of turning teams in to well-drilled passing and possession-oriented machines. He will be expected to turn City into a side that brushes opponents aside and to convert the nonbelievers to his enlightened way of doing things in the beautiful game. Should Guardiola manage to evangelise British football it would go down as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the sport. While it wouldn’t surprise me to see him succeed, it will undoubtedly be a tricky job. He’s no idiot so it’s very likely he’ll be looking into convincing the likes of Neymar, Iniesta and Busquests to join him next season.

Mourinho to United. I never doubted that this would happen. The appointment of the Portuguese tinker man would make the Manchester derby one of the most heated rivalries in the world. It’s hard to imagine the ex-Chelsea man doing a worse job than Louis van Gaal. The prospect of the Red Devils and the Sky Blues fighting it out for the title with Mou and Pep in the dugouts is a mouthwatering one. With the Clásico losing its prestige on the global stage, Javier Tebas will be devastated by recent events in the Premier League.