The Manchester City manager’s biographer has revealed that Real Madrid tried to get in touch with him through his agent last November.
Real Madrid reportedly launched an audacious attempt to lure Pep Guardiola to Real Madrid, according to the Manchester City manager’s close friend and biographer Marti Perarnau.
Guardiola had made it quite clear that he would leave Bayern Munich early on during his final season at the German giants. Rafael Benitez was sacked in January, but Guardiola was apparently approached in November — a full two months before the former Liverpool manager was sacked.
Given Perarnau’s close relationship with Guardiola, there appears to be some truth to these claims. The biographer told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser: “Real Madrid called Pep Guardiola to try and tempt him last November, before they sacked Benitez.
“Madrid contacted [Josep Maria] Orobitg, Guardiola’s agent, in order to try and contract him. But from the start it was out of the question. I was there.”
Real Madrid have shown several times over the years how ruthless they are when it comes to hiring and firing coaches. Rafa Benitez himself allegedly found out about his sacking through friends in the media, who were trying to find out whether it was true that current manager Zinedine Zidane had been promoted from youth-team coach to first-team head coach.
Zidane has had a similar managerial career path to Guardiola. They both played for the club they first managed, coached the club’s ‘B’ team, and then took over the reigns as head coach.
Pep Guardiola is a highly coveted target, considered to be one of the finest managers in the world. As such, it is no surprise that Real Madrid were interested in him. Zinedine Zidane has done well in his time with Madrid thus far however, winning the Champions League in his first season. Consequently, Los Blancos will not regret missing out on Guardiola too much.
