Pep GuardiolaPep Guardiola

Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola pulled out of his pre-match press conference yesterday as speculation escalated that he has decided to leave the club at the end of the season.

Reports in Spain have claimed Guardiola has agreed to take over at Manchester City. He will inform the record Bundesliga champions before Christmas of his decision to leave, the media reported.

Bayern chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stated this week that an announcement would be made regarding Guardiola’s future before the end of the year.

“We will have a talk after the Hanover game (on December 19) and we will announce the result afterwards,” Rummenigge said.

“There is no intention to put back this date. Like we have already said, there will be a decision in 2015.”

Rummenigge added that his club would not fall apart even if Guardiola were to leave next summer.

“Things always move on,” Rummenigge said.

“There is no person in the world who becomes irreplaceable at some stage. Players come, players go. The same goes for the coach.”

Ahead of the inevitable questions over his future, which Guardiola has been avoiding for months, and which have seemingly been irking him, he chose not to meet the media yesterday ahead of today’s Bundesliga clash with Hertha Berlin.

Bayern stated private reasons were behind his decision not to attend the press conference.

City have repeatedly been linked with the former Barcelona boss, and with several former senior Nou Camp officials having moved to the Etihad Stadium it is to be expected that Guardiola should have admirers at the club.

Former Barcelona general manager Ferran Soriano is City’s chief executive, and Txiki Begiristain is director of football having held an equivalent position with the Catalan club.

But City boss Manuel Pellegrini vowed to carry on unperturbed, saying yesterday: “I don’t talk about rumours. It is a rumour that we have had for the last two-and-a-half seasons here.

“There is not a problem about that.”

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