Next Man City manager: Nine coaches tipped to replace Pep Guardiola as exit rumours heat up

Pep Guardiola’s existing contract at Manchester City is valid until 2025 and the 53-year-old has been tipped to leave the club when this deal ends.

While a final decision on his future hasn’t yet been made, the current feeling within the board isn’t too optimistic and some sources have told TEAMtalk that the FA believe they can tempt him to become the next England manager.

There is also a belief that Guardiola’s future may be tied to the outcome of Man City’s 115 charges, of which a judgement is expected in the New Year.

Replacing a manager like Guardiola certainly won’t be straightforward, but we have gathered nine potential managers who could step into his shoes in 2025.

Ruben Amorim

Courted by West Ham and, to a lesser extent, Liverpool when both were looking for new managers earlier in 2024, Amorim ultimately stayed with Sporting after winning his second Portuguese league title with the club.

However, the 39-year-old seems destined to pit his wits against some of the sport’s finest tactical brains in the future by potentially taking a Premier League job.

It may help his case for being appointed by Man City that the club have just welcomed Hugo Viana as their new director of football for once Txiki Begiristain leaves.

Viana has been Sporting’s director of football since 2018 and was part of the team that chose Amorim as their head coach in 2020.

Amorim is under contract in Lisbon until 2026, but plenty of clubs will be trying to prise him away in the coming months, with City not to be ruled out.

Roberto De Zerbi

Having already been linked with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Liverpool, it only seems natural that Man City would consider De Zerbi when Guardiola eventually calls it quits.

The brand of football would certainly be a hit at the Etihad and the Italian boss has previously spoken about the influence Guardiola has had on his own career.

“I became a coach for Guardiola because I loved his Barcelona,” De Zerbi said last year. “I studied him a lot, I didn’t copy him but I took when I started to be a coach, before when I finished to be a player. Pep is still number one.”

Reports from De Zerbi’s native Italy a year ago implied that De Zerbi would be at the top of the list to replace Guardiola, but that was before he left Brighton for Marseille.

However, De Zerbi has not been averse to quitting jobs to take higher-ranking ones throughout his coaching career, so watch this space.

GO DEEPER 👉 The 10 highest-paid players at Man City as club face potential ‘expulsion’ for financial breaches

Michel

Having guided Girona to a third-place finish in La Liga, it’s only natural that Michel is going to be linked with some of the biggest vacancies from around Europe.

The links to Man City are especially prevalent as Girona are part-owned by the City Football Group. With this in mind, Man City will no doubt have their eye on the 48-year-old boss.

Even Girona’s sporting director, Quique Carcel, has suggested that Michel has the minerals to succeed Guardiola when the time comes.

“He has the talent to lead a big club like Manchester City (but) still needs time to get there to this type of benches,” Carcel told Mundo Deportivo.

“City plays football that Míchel, with a smaller club, is being able to do. Although for him to train them, a lot of coordination has to happen, like Pep (Guardiola) making the decision to leave.

“(He’s) happy in the team, with a contract and with the desire to continue making the project great. The pressures in Girona are different from those he may have on a bigger bench.”

Xabi Alonso

Having already snubbed the Liverpool and Bayern Munich jobs to remain with Bayer Leverkusen for the 2024/25 season at least, it would be quite the turn-up for the books if Alonso was then to join Man City.

After leading Leverkusen to their first ever Bundesliga title, questions regarding his long-term future are still being asked.

Alonso is heavily fancied to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid when the time comes, but could Man City beat them to the punch?

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague has backed up the claims that Man City could be Alonso’s next destination, although there are bound to be plenty of clubs fighting for his signature.

“I’ll tell you a little secret,” Balague told BBC’s The Football News Show.

“When he went to Bayer Leverkusen, he told his agent ‘do you know what, I am thinking that if it doesn’t go well at Bayer Leverkusen, I’ll go back to Real Sociedad.

“But if it goes well, from here, it’s Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich.

“Let me add Manchester City to the equation and that’s where Xabi Alonso could go next. When, is a different matter.”

Mikel Arteta

After spending three years as Guardiola’s assistant, Arteta is now considered as one of Man City’s toughest rivals. He’s implemented his own philosophy at Arsenal and has taken the club from eighth into title contention.

Whether he’d switch the Emirates for the Etihad is another question, but the 42-year-old is certainly held in high regard by the Man City board.

HAVE YOU SEEN? 👉 Top 10 most expensive Man City sales ever amid FFP punishment scrutiny, after Alvarez sets new record

Vincent Kompany

Having racked up 360 appearances for the club, Kompany’s links to Man City are obvious. He started his managerial career in 2020 with Anderlecht and then took the Burnley job in 2022.

He did an excellent job during his first year at Turf Moore, winning the Championship and accumulating an impressive 101 points along the way.

Burnley suffered relegation a year later, but Kompany’s style of play attracted another of Guardiola’s former clubs, Bayern Munich, who handed him the reins in the summer of 2024.

Guardiola himself has tipped Kompany to return to the Etihad one day, but it remains to be seen if the Man City board would view him as a worthy candidate.

“Maybe he doesn’t agree with me, but having seen his teams I’m more than convinced today he’s going to come back,” Guardiola told reporters last year when discussing Kompany.

“When? When I said my feelings weeks ago, this part I don’t know. But it’s going to happen.”

DON’T MISS 👉 Every Premier League player who is out of contract at the end of the 2023-24 season

Xavi

Xavi was ousted by Barcelona earlier this year, despite the club initially intending to keep him.

Guardiola’s former midfielder is still awaiting his return to management, his only other previous role having been in Qatar with Al-Sadd.

Given both Xavi and Guardiola are cut from the same cloth, it’s not totally outlandish to think that he would be on Man City’s radar.

Unlike a lot of the other managers on this list, Xavi knows what it takes to win a league title, having won La Liga with Barcelona in 2022/23.

Julian Nagelsmann

The German head coach had recently been linked with Bayern Munich and Man Utd, but instead of returning to club football, he instead decided to extend his contract with the German national team.

Nagelsmann is under contract with Germany until 2026, although could Man City tempt him to return to club football before then?

Still just 36 years old, Nagelsmann is the youngest manager on this entire list and it wouldn’t be that surprising to see him in the Man City dugout one day.

Zinedine Zidane

The Frenchman has been out of work since leaving Real Madrid in 2021, holding off from taking various jobs he has been linked with.

Zidane certainly knows what it takes to get the best out of world class players and while his philosophy differs from Guardiola’s, he absolutely has a winning formula up his sleeve.

READ MORE 👉 The 10 biggest spending football managers since Pep Guardiola joined Man City in 2016