Report: Pep Guardiola linked with move to Manchester City
BeIN Sports caused a firestorm on social media Saturday after reporting that Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola will become the next manager of Manchester City.
The Spanish manager has supposedly agreed to a verbal agreement with the Premier League club to replace Manuel Pellegrini, according to BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys.
The report came prior to Bayern's 1-0 loss against Augsburg, the Bundesliga champion's fourth consecutive defeat, and was quickly rubbished by various members of the media.
Pure imagination and fiction this story that Guardiola has agreed to sign for City. Not true at all!!
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) May 9, 2015
While German freelance writer Raphael Honigstein offered a facetious thought on the report:
It's a verbally signed pre-contract. Sounds legit to me
— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) May 9, 2015
Guardiola and Pellegrini have faced an avalanche of criticism at various points throughout their respective campaigns. While the frustration surrounding the Chilean has seemingly died down in recent weeks with the acceptance that City will not retain its title, Guardiola is currently experiencing his first bit of turbulence since joining Bayern in 2013.
His club's devastating 3-0 loss to Barcelona all but guarantees Bayern will miss out on the Champions League final for a second consecutive season.
Speculation about the future of both managers future has persisted for much of the season and will likely take many more twists and turns before next season kicks off.