Pep Guardiola is all set to take over at Manchester City next season, as his tenure at Bayern Munich comes to end. Manuel Pellegrini has shown great character and conduct despite knowing he would no longer be at the helm in January itself.
The Chilean has done a great job at the club during his 3-year stint. He lifted the Premier League title in his very first year in charge and managed to win silverware in his last season as well by defeating Liverpool in the League cup final.
City have probably not matched their desired expectations this season, but as Leicester City have shown the Premier League is probably the most unpredictable of leagues across Europe. It has also proven to be a very tough league to win.
Pellegrini has warned Guardiola that he won’t have it easy when he takes charge. “I think it will get more competitive because the TV rights are increasing every season, so every team will have more money to spend on good players.”
“It's also very important to consider in the future that this season, we have played 16 games more than Leicester. Big teams involved in Europe have a double challenge to be successful.”
Pellegrini also talked about how City had to play extra matches compared to their rivals. “The reasons we couldn't get near the winners were that, first of all, Leicester was the best team and played very, very well, and secondly, we played a lot more games.
“A third reason is that we continued in the Champions League to the semi-final and had a disadvantage against United, Arsenal and Tottenham.That makes it more difficult to reach the first four places in the Premier, and that is why it will be more difficult in years to come to reach the top four.”
Guardiola has done a good job at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But he would have loved to win the Champions League with the Bavarian giants, something he will regret. The manager will have a massive rebuilding job at City.
The players will also have to adapt to his methodology and the way he would want City to play. Taking these factors into account it might not be a straightforward story for the Sky Blues next season.
With Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all enduring tough campaigns this year, they will all come back stronger next season which will make it even tougher for Guardiola to rise to the top of the Premier League.
