Micah Richards has suggested that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would be an ideal candidate to replace Gareth Southgate as the England boss.
The Spaniard is currently in the midst of his eighth season in charge of the Citizens having been appointed back in 2016.
As things stand, the 52-year-old’s contract at the Etihad Stadium is set to expire in the summer of 2025, although despite that, Guardiola has now found himself mentioned in a conversation regarding who the next England manager could be.
Richards says Guardiola would be ideal England manager
Speaking in a recent edition of The Rest Is Football, Richards had this to say when asked about the possibility of Guardiola replacing Southgate as England’s manager.
He said: “We had this conversation and we said should the England manager be English and I think I said probably not. As long as you win, it doesn’t matter.
“I would like to see Pep, I mean if Pep could come in there with all this talent that we have, it’s a little bit disrespectful because a lot of people ask me about this as well and we’ve been big fans of Southgate and when we say things like ‘Pep should be the new manager, Southgate’s not good enough,’ Southgate has been brilliant, got to a final, got to a semi-final.
“But I just think in terms of elite coaches, if you could say who do you want, I think Pep could just tweak us that little bit to get us over the line.”
Back in September, it was reported that the FA could try and convince Guardiola to take the England job after Southagte, whose contract is set to expire after next year’s European Championship.
Even though the City boss has no experience of managing a national time, the fact that he has been so successful at club level, including winning three Champions League titles, shows why Richards thinks he could bring that winning formula to the England team.
From a City fan’s point of view, we feel that it should be the club’s main objective to try and keep Guardiola where he is for as long as possible rather than let him consider potentially taking the England job.
