Pep Guardiola To Replace Gareth Southgate As England Manager? FA Ready To Wait For Spaniard

Pep Guardiola has emerged as a shock candidate to replace Gareth Southgate as the manager of England as the English FA are committed to snap up the Spaniard in a sensational move. 

Gareth Southgate stepped down as the manager of England after yet another Euro heartbreak as the three lions lost 2-1 to Spain in the finals of Euro 2024. After facing a lot of criticism for his tactics, Southgate quit the poisoned chalice that is the England job having lost two consecutive Euro finals and guiding three lions to a World Cup semi final in 2018 and quarterfinal in 2022. 

FA want Pep Guardiola to replace Gareth Southgate as England manager

The English FA think Pep Guardiola is the perfect manager to take over the highly talented squad of England and take them to the next level. 

Pep Guardiola is set to leave Manchester City when his contract expires in 2025. The 2024-25 season will be his last at the helm of Sky Blues in the Premier League. 

The FA plan to wait for Pep Guardiola makes his decision in March and in the meantime name an interim replacement of Gareth Southgate as England manager. This report comes by Miguel Delamy of the independent. 

The report further states that given England's FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification starting from March next year they have the liberty to wait for Pep Guardiola should he decide to join England. 

Also Read | Gareth Southgate to take up new role after England's Euro 2024 defeat

While, Pep Guardiola hasn't yet shown any interest in signing for England he was in the past interested in taking up international management. Given Pep has been through intense pressure of coaching Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City for nearly 15 years now, he could like a prospect of coaching a national team. 

Also Read | Who will replace Gareth Southgate as England manager?

However, the report also states that while England would prefer to have a permanent replacement right now, the opportunity of signing Pep could be really tempting. 

If FA does not decide to wait and pull the trigger then Newcastle's Eddie Howe is also one of the candidates to replace Gareth Southgate.