Manchester City have officially appointed Pep Guardiola as their manager and he will take over from Manuel Pellegrini before the start of the 2016/17 Premier League season. The club made the announcement by releasing a statement on their official website.
Guardiola had already announced that he would be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the current season with Carlo Ancelotti taking over in the summer. The Spanish manager will have spent three seasons with the Bavarian giants when he leaves the Bundesliga club.
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At Manchester City, too, he has signed a three-year contract. Pellegrini will leave the Etihad on 30 June after which Guardiola will take over.
City had originally tried to sign Guardiola in 2012 after his four-year stint with La Liga giant Barcelona where he won 14 trophies, including two Champions League titles and three La Liga titles. But Guardiola opted to take a year-long sabbatical instead.
Pellegrini has won the Premier League title and League Cup title in the 2013/14 season and they are currently second in the table this season – three points behind league leaders Leicester City. They are also the only English club still active in all four competitions this season.
Manchester City made announcement public out of respect to Pellegrini
City also claim that Pellegrini supports the club’s decision and made the announcement public now rather than have the media and fans speculate on the Chilean manager’s future.
The statement in full is given below.
Manchester City can confirm that in recent weeks it has commenced and finalized contractual negotiations with Pep Guardiola to become MCFC Head Coach for the 2016/17 EPL season onwards.
The contract is for three years. These negotiations were a re-commencement of discussions that were curtailed in 2012.
Out of respect for Manuel Pellegrini and the players, the Club wishes to make its decision public to remove the unnecessary burden of speculation.
Manuel, who is fully supportive of the decision to make this communication, is entirely focused on achieving his targets for the season ahead and retains the respect and commitment of all involved with the leadership of the Club.
Club are not doing anything behind me: Pellegrini
At the press conference ahead of City’s clash with Sunderland, Pellegrini said he knew about it a month ago.
“Before I finish, I want to tell you I have talked with the club and I will finish my contract on the original date,” Pellegrini said.
Pellegrini had originally signed a contract extension in August last year that would have seen him stay till the end of the 2016/17 season. But that is no longer the case.
“I signed for one year more but with the clause that the club or me can choose not to use that now. So I finish here 30 June, so there is not the speculation.
“The club are not doing anything behind me, I knew this one month ago,” Pellegrini explained.
“But I don’t think it’s good to have rumour or speculation about these things, so I prefer to finish today, which I why I have told the players and I have told the press. I also spoke to the club two weeks ago and said that I would do it.”
