‘£200m’ deal to keep Guardiola at Man City mooted as Scholes endorses England switch

Man City could value Pep Guardiola at as much as £200m a year as they offer him a new contract to stay at the Etihad Stadium, according to reports.

The Citizens could lose the Catalan in a year when his contract at the Etihad Stadium expires in the summer of 2025 with Guardiola virtually irreplaceable.

He guided Man City to the Premier League title on the final day of last season to beat Arsenal by two points and lift a fourth consecutive English top-flight championship.

Guardiola has already cemented his place as one of the best managers the Premier League has ever seen with his Barcelona team also widely regarded as one of the best of all time.

And a report earlier this week in the Daily Mirror insisted that Man City boss ‘Sheikh Mansour is leading a fierce charm offensive’ to keep Guardiola past the end of his contract.

The report added:

‘Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarek has promised to do all that he can to persuade Guardiola to sign an extension that would take his reign to beyond a decade.

‘City are hoping that the prospect of taking his team to the expanded Club World Cup in the United States next summer will be too tantalising to resist.’

Pep Guardiola worth as much as £200m a year to Man City

It is understood that Man City ‘are prepared to offer him a significant increase on his current £20million-a-year wages’ and former Everton CEO Keith Wyness reckons Guardiola could be worth as much as £200m to the Citizens.

Wyness told Football Insider : “There will be all sorts of things dangled in front of him.

“There are so many ways that you could try and value what Pep’s contribution has been within the City Football Group. He has been the icon for the whole of Man City with his superb management skills.

“He has created the monster that has become the Man City growth train and it’s really down to him now.

“Has he been valued as that significant part of that? Probably not in terms of his manager salary. The impact that Pep has had in terms of the whole image of City is something that’s quite incredible.

“A top manager’s salary is worth £15-20million. Is he worth £50million, £100million or even £200million if you start to look at the value compared to players?

“There may even be a very tough commercial discussion going on between City and Pep, with him saying ‘This is my true value, I do want more’.

“It’s something managers have always felt they haven’t really had the benefit of for many years.

“The top managers are only just coming up towards meeting the players’ salaries.”

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There have been strong rumours that England are ‘willing to wait’ a year to bring Guardiola in as Gareth Southgate’s successor after the former Middlesbrough boss resigned on Tuesday.

And former Man Utd and England midfielder Paul Scholes appeared to endorse Guardiola’s potential arrival as England boss by posting a picture of the Man City boss with the caption: “win win”.

But Evening Standard reporter Dan Kilpatrick insists that England appointing Guardiola seems unlikely because of the big money involved in the potential appointment.

‘Guardiola, meanwhile, has expressed an interest in managing in the international game with Brazil in the past but he is under contract at Manchester City until the end of the season and not expected to decide his future for several months.

‘Again, the FA would struggle to match Guardiola’s current salary, believed to be close to £20m-a-season.’