Van Bronckhurst to be Pep Replacement at Manchester City?

Giovanni Van Bronckhurst has signed a contract at Manchester City and there is speculation as to what his role may involve.

There are some things as a Manchester City fan that I am just not willing to consider, like the departures of David Silva and Pep Guardiola. The emotional investment has been too great and the consequences of the loss are inconceivable.

It is therefore with a heavy heart that I awake this morning to news that the Club may be making plans for AG: After Guardiola. I am personally just not ready to begin to comprehend this, it is like having to come to terms with your own mortality.

However, it seems clear that Van Bronckhurst has joined the club in the last few weeks and has been given something of an all areas access role across the CFG. The English media are speculating that this is because he is being lined up to replace Guardiola should he decide to leave.

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Guardiola is under contract at City until Summer 2021 and is reportedly unlikely to sign another contract extension. In fact there has even been some talk he may leave earlier than planned. Certainly given the toll of the media I would not be surprised if this was his last season with City.

Guardiola has been living with his wife and children in Manchester since arriving but his wife has now returned to Spain to concentrate on her own career. How long will Pep remain?

So given the way in which our club manages itself, it will be no surprise if indeed we are making plans for AG now.

Van Bronckhurst was manager at Feyenoord until last Summer when he left. Whilst there he did extremely well to win the Eredivisie in 2017 and two Dutch Cups. Last season he finished 3rd and even inflicted a 6-2 defeat on all conquering rivals Ajax.

So, he is a promising young manager following a football ethos honed by Cruyff and Barcelona. Sound familiar?

For Van Bronckhurst was a player at Barcelona where he knew Guardiola and importantly the City leaders – Txiki Bergiristain and Ferran Soriano.

Of course, this speculation could be nonsense and in fact he could be simply being lined up for another club within the CFG stable, but he seems too high a profile for that to me.

So where does this leave Mikkel Arteta, currently Pep’s assistant manager. Well, the short answer is I am not sure.

Arteta has done well at City but is he really ready to step up to lead one of the biggest clubs in the world? I don’t know if that is the case but I trust the judgement of Txiki in this regard given it was him who launched the career of Guardiola as manager.

Much was made of a Guardiola press conference a few weeks ago where the media reported he was annointing Arteta as his replacement at City. I think that arose through a misuse of language by Pep.

I think what Pep thought he was saying was Arteta will succeed wherever he goes, not he will succeed Pep. Consequently I would not be surprised if Arteta popped as the new manager at Everton and suddenly. Van Bronckhurst appears as assistant to Pep.

Next. . dark

Then, and only then would I start to believe the impossible. That Guardiola was preparing to leave and as City fans we needed to start preparing for an afterlife.

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