Bayern the perfect stepping stone for Guardiola

When Pep Guardiola announced in January that he would take charge at Bayern Munich, very few may look at the move as a stepping stone to the Premier League, but could this in fact be the case?

Courted for some time by Chelsea, Guardiola was seen as a near certainty to take control at Stamford Bridge once the interim reign of Rafa Benitez concludes in the summer.  This would coincide with the end of Guardiola’s self imposed year long sabbatical from football management after stepping down at Barcelona at the end of last season and the former defensive midfielder was seen as the only candidate in the eyes of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich is now forced to come up with a ‘Plan B’ as Guardiola embarks on a stint with the current dominant force in the Bundesliga this summer.  Despite seemingly turning his back on Chelsea, It is widely understood that managing in the Premier League is something that appeals to Guardiola at some point in his career.  Reading between the lines, this move to Germany could be seen to act as a go-between in one day becoming the successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

It should not be thought for a minute that Bayern Munich are a ‘small club’, in fact they are one of the biggest in the world and at present a far more likely candidate to win this season’s Champions League that United.  However, despite the fact that the Bundesliga is an exciting and emerging league both on the pitch and from a financial point of view, the Premier League currently remains the most overall competitive league in Europe and one that all managers would want to manage in at some stage.

If you look at the managerial situation at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson is showing no signs of throwing in the towel.  There still appears to be a desire in Ferguson to win a couple more Premier League titles yet.  With this in mind Guardiola could not simply sit at home and wait for the call from Old Trafford.  He had to be back in work, keeping his stock high and preventing him and his philosophies becoming stale.  Bayern offer the perfect chance for Guardiola to do just that.

Bayern are a big enough club to give Guardiola at platform to go and continue with his already superb reputation.  They are guaranteed to be competing for trophies domestically, with many believing they have the squad capable to bring Champions League glory as well, with surely his biggest challenge at The Allianz Arena being to find a way of getting Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben to pass the ball to each other.  The ideal scenario for Guardiola would surely be to manage Bayern for a few seasons, win several honours before riding off into the sunset in a blaze of glory, destination Old Trafford.

Aaron SharpFollow @ajs26061988

Comments

[Jaymac]

Is it not yet time to really forget about Guardiola? He is just one of the good managers unless he proves to be more than that, when he manages one or two other clubs,which personally I think that was why he avoided Chelsea (Being afraid to Fail)