England retain Pep Guardiola admiration despite Thomas Tuchel agreement over manager role | OneFootball

The Football Association retain admiration for Pep Guardiola, who was their number one choice for the now-taken managerial role within the England set-up.

Reports from earlier this week suggested that the FA had made ‘informal contact’ with the Manchester City manager over the summer, when assessing their options over a long-term successor to Gareth Southgate at Wembley.

Interest in Pep Guardiola comes amid a decision-making process by the 53-year-old, who is into the final year of his Manchester City contract and is being allowed the time and space to come to a conclusion on his next steps in the game.

As expected, those within the Etihad Stadium will retain hope of extending Pep Guardiola’s contract beyond the end of the ongoing campaign, and taking the legendary tactician into a tenth season in charge of the club.

Whilst any chances of a move into the England national team set-up have now been ended with the appointment of German coach Thomas Tuchel into the role, a new report has detailed the retained hopes from the part of FA officials.

According to the information of The Athletic’s David Ornstein, whilst Manchester City’s manager was the Football Association’s top choice to replace Gareth Southgate as England head coach, admiration for the Catalan remains.

The 53-year-old is reportedly yet to make a decision on his future, with his existing Etihad Stadium agreement – signed midway through the 2022/23 season – reaching a natural conclusion at the end of the ongoing season.

Guardiola has made it clear over the last few press conferences in particular that he would not be commenting on his future any time soon, however the current expectation is that a decision could come in the next few weeks.

There is a wider belief that Pep Guardiola paid a visit to Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in Abu Dhabi during the international break, with the pair sharing a strong personal relationship built over their time at the Etihad Stadium.

Interestingly, it was Al Mubarak who was understood to be at the centre of persuading Pep Guardiola to extend his terms beyond 2021 during a holiday between the pair in the Maldives, in a move that would bring unprecedented further success with Manchester City.