Bayern Munich have underlined the scope of their ambition by announcing the appointment of spectacularly successful former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola to replace Jupp Heynckes from the end of this season.
Spaniard Guardiola, 41, will take over from Heynckes, who has decided not to extend his contract, in July and has agreed a deal until the end of June 2016.
“We are very pleased that we have managed to convince the football expert Pep Guardiola, who was coveted and contacted by many top clubs, to come to Bayern Munich,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said yesterday.
He said Heynckes had decided to retire at the end of the season and Bayern were replacing him with the best coach on the market.
“Pep Guardiola is one of the world’s most successful coaches and we are sure that he can bring a great deal of sparkle not only to Bayern Munich but to German football in general,” Rum-menigge added.
Bayern’s announcement ended weeks of speculation about which club would win the race to hire Guardiola, who announced this month he would return to coaching next season after taking a year out to rest.
He stepped down as Barca coach at the end of last term after leading the club, where he began his career as a player, to 14 trophies in four years, including two Champions League crowns and three Spanish league titles in a row.
It is a significant coup for the German club, runners-up in Europe’s elite club competition last season, given that big-spending rivals, including Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris St Germain, were reportedly also hoping to hire Guardiola.
Bayern were also losing Champions League finalists in 2010 and their last European Cup win was in 2001.
Speaking to the English FA as part of the organisation’s 150th anniversary celebrations this week, Guardiola had said his ambition was to manage in the Premier League.
Under his guidance, his first top-flight coaching job, Barca won plaudits for their entertaining, attacking brand of soccer based on domination of possession and swift one-touch passing.
Many credit Johan Cruyff, another former Barca player and coach, with creating the club’s distinctive style and Guardiola played under the Dutch-man in the 1990s when they won their first European Cup.
The ex-Spain international also won praise for getting the best out of quadruple World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, to whom he gave more liberty to roam the pitch than his predecessor as coach Frank Rijkaard.
Whether Guardiola’s philosophy and tactics will suit Bayern and the Bundesliga remains to be seen.
There is also a question mark over whether he can manage a group of players the majority of whom, unlike at Barca, did not come through the club’s academy.
One player at the German club he knows well is Spain midfielder Javi Martinez, who joined in the close season for a Bundesliga record of €40 million.
Guardiola may be hoping to lure some of his former charges to Germany to join Martinez but even if he does not attract former players, he can rely on cash-rich Bayern to dig deep in their pockets to assemble a Champions League-winning team according to his vision.