Pep Guardiola Snapped up by Bayern

Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola will take over at Bayern Munich from the start of next season.

The man who guided the Catalan club to a series of major honours took time out of football at the end of the 2012 season, had been the most eligible unemployed manager in Europe with strong rumours that he would take a place on the Chelsea merry-go-round after Rafa Bentiez’s period as interim manager ended.

There was also much speculation that he was being line up to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United should the Scot have chosen to retire at the end of this year.

The Bavarians have beaten Chelsea, United and perhaps even Manchester City to the punch, acting swiftly to replace the retiring Juup Heynckes.

The club is already one of Europe’s success stories, having reached the Champions League Final last season and claimed nine of the last fifteen German Bundesliga titles.

With a nine point lead in the current table, that domination seems likely to continue.

Their European record has been disappointing though, culminating in a loss on penalties on their home patch to Chelsea last year.

It is now 12 years since they won the Champions League trophy and that was a full quarter of a century since their previous win, which completed a hat trick of successive wins.

Guardiola is reported to have signed a three year contract starting in July when Heynckes retires.