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Many Chelsea fans were hoping to see Pep Guardiola taking over for Rafa Benitez this summer. Many fans will be disappointed today then, as Pep has decided the grass is greener in Germany. According to the Bayern Munich twitter feed:
Perfekt!PEP GUARDIOLA (41) ab Juli bis 2016 neuer Trainer des FC Bayern! /Heynckes beendet zum Saisonende seine Karriere. ^M.Hörwick
— FC Bayern München (@FCBayern) January 16, 2013
Personally, I'm fine with this decision. Pep has proven to be a fine manager at Barcelona, but I'm still not sold that he's worth all the hype. His replacement has arguably been better than him, and he's going to demand a major role in the decisions involving transfers. Looking at his record in the transfer market with Barca, I'd be very uncomfortable giving him that power.
On the other hand, this increases the chances that we end up with Rafa Benitez for another season at Stamford Bridge. I've yet to see enough from Rafa to make me feel he's the best option for the job, and the fact that I just don't like the guy combined with him doing little to impress thus far has me really hoping he's replaced. As much as Pep was never my first choice, he's certainly above Rafa Benitez in that regard.
Unless thing get an awful lot better in short order, I'd guess there is very little chance that Rafa's option is picked up before the summer. With Pep off the market now, that should lead to all sorts of wild speculation over the next few months. Yay.
