French journalist Laurens Julien has suggested that Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis want Pep Guardiola to take charge of Arsenal.. next year!
Laurens spoke at an AST meeting on Monday night and suggested Wenger would leave after 20 years at the club (2016) and aims to bow out as Premier League Champions.
JL closes by saying that both Arsène Wenger & Ivan Gazidis want Pep Guardiola to manage Arsenal in future. He is ‘the dream.’
— FK² (@fkhanage) April 27, 2015
Whilst Wenger’s contract would still have a year to run, if Laurens is to be believed, the Gunners may cut short Wenger’s reign in order to help secure a quality replacement in Guardiola. Wenger wants to leave the club in good hands and could be potentially prepared to leave his contract early if Guardiola had agreed to replace him.
Pep’s current three year contract at Bayern Munich expires at the end of next season and it seems Arsenal are lining him up as the ideal replacement for Wenger. Guardiola is 21 years younger than Wenger, so if he were to succeed the Frenchman it could be for the long term.
If true, it is good that Gazidis and Wenger have identified a target for replacing Wenger, as poor succession planning can lead to extremely bad results – take Manchester United as a case study. Hopefully over the next year the Gunners can take more official steps to securing a successor for Wenger, to ensure a smooth transition between management and minimise potential negative impacts on results.
Would you like to see Guardiola replace Wenger? Is it time for the Frenchman to step aside at the end of the season?