Six different options to replace Pep Guardiola at Man City including ex-Man United boss

We could be witnessing the final weeks of Pep Guardiola’s incredible Manchester City career.

Well-placed sources in the north west believe Guardiola will decide to call time on his decade-long Etihad tenure at the end of the season, having won six Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Getty

Guardiola boosted his trophy haul at City to 19 with another Carabao Cup victory over Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

While City officials have played down the speculation, it is understood they have already starting drawing up a list of potential successors for the club’s greatest every manager, but who could follow in the Spaniard’s illustrious footsteps?

Here talkSPORT assesses the credentials of some of the leading candidates:

Enzo Maresca

Former Chelsea boss Maresca was Guardiola’s assistant for one year before leading Leicester to the Championship title and then being poached by Chelsea.

One of the main factors in Maresca’s acrimonious departure from Stamford Bridge after 18 months in charge in January was him holding talks with City and Juventus officials.

The Italian’s exit from west London did not damage his stock in the eyes of the City hierarchy after delivering Champions League qualification and winning both the highly-lucrative Club World Cup and Conference League.

Maresca also knows the inner workings of City having served not just as number two but heading their Elite Development Squad, where he managed players including Cole Palmer and Liam Delap.

Vincent Kompany

Kompany would be the obvious choice in the eyes of a lot of City supporters.

Having led the Citizens to no fewer than four league titles, the Bayern Munich boss can lay claim to being one of their best ever players and captains.

His playing style is also directly influenced by Guardiola so on the face it a return to the Etihad seems a perfect fit.

Getty

However, Kompany is already in charge of one of the best clubs in Europe and only signed a new contract earlier this season.

The Belgian may also be shrewd enough to realise that replacing Guardiola is an almost impossible task so could opt to wait to be Pep’s successor.

Cesc Fabregas

Ex-Arsenal and Chelsea star Fabregas has made his way onto City’s shortlist after an impressive start to life in the dugout.

Fabregas guided Como into Serie A after a 21-year absence and they are currently battling with the likes of Juventus and Napoli for a Champions League spot.

Much like City, Como’s success is not exactly a fairytale story and has been built on significant transfer spending. In fact, they have the biggest net spend in Italy this season.

However, the 38-year-old Fabregas has proved himself to be an astute tactician and motivator.

Getty

He also knows what it takes to win in the Premier League having played under greats like Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho.

Xabi Alonso

Being seen to fail at Real Madrid does not automatically make you a bad manager and Alonso still has plenty of credit in the bank from his Invincible season at the helm of Bayer Leverkusen, which ended Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga domination.

City have always kept close tabs on Alonso, who will also top Liverpool’s wanted list if they part company with Arne Slot.

Beating the Merseysiders to the punch would give City an added incentive to move for the one-time Anfield ace.

Mikel Arteta

City chiefs have always regarded their old assistant Arteta as a strong option to succeed his mentor Guardiola, even when he was struggling in his early days at Arsenal.

The master has now overtaken the apprentice with Arsenal on course to beat City to this season’s Premier League table.

Arteta is the highest-paid manager in Arsenal’s history and the Gunners plan to offer him another new contract.

AFP

Having been allowed to build his own squad to put Arsenal in a strong position to dominate English football for the upcoming years, it feels unlikely he would jump ship.

Ruben Amorim

Now hear me out on this one.

The prospect of a Manchester United reject replacing Guardiola would not go down well among the City faithful.

But, Amorim formed a formidable partnership with City sporting director Hugo Viana to win two Portuguese titles at Sporting so should not be totally discounted, especially as Viana will want to put his own stamp on the appointment.