Pep Guardiola considered pulling the plug on a deal to become Manchester City head coach – because he could not find the right house to stay.
City had struck a deal for Guardiola to take over from Manuel Pellegrini while the Catalan was still in charge of Bayern Munich.
But less than two months after the club had announced in February 2016 that Guardiola would take charge, officials at City became concerned that the former Barcelona manager might back out.
Guardiola wanted to move into a city centre residence in Manchester with his family that will be similar to the mansion they spent three years living in in Munich.
But with Manchester unable to provide anything to match those requirements, City’s top brass became concerned that Guardiola was going to have a change of heart and walk away from the agreement.
The story was revealed in a new book about Guardiola by Spanish journalists, Pol Ballus and Lu Martin, that explains the Catalan’s journey at City.
In “Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam”, which is out today and had the cooperation of Guardiola, City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, and other important figures at the club, those fears about him pulling out are captured in detail.
The concerns first became evident after David Quintana, Man City’s former player liaison manager, had been sent on a secret mission to Germany to help smooth Guardiola’s transition to the club.
The meeting was so secret that they even refused to refer to Guardiola by name – instead calling him “The German”.
In the book, Ballus and Martin write: “‘Go to Munich but tell no one’, Begiristain ordered him (Quintana). ‘It seems we’ve got a problem with The German’.
“They did indeed. In Munich, the Guardiola family had lived in a spacious mansion on Sophienstrasse. Pep demanded accommodation of a similar standard in Manchester and the issue was in danger of becoming a deal-breaker.
“Quintana and Pep met over a leisurely three-hour lunch in a local Vietnamese restaurant.
“Lunch was spent discussing key elements of the club’s organisation, infrastructure, players…but the issues around the Guardiolas’ new home remained unsolved.
“An anxious Begiristain asked for a full debrief on Quintana’s return. “‘So, what did you tell him? The plain truth: that there basically isn’t anything like that in Manchester’.
“The problem was that Pep was refusing to live anywhere but the city centre and there just wasn’t the right kind of property there to suit him. It didn’t exist.”
At that stage, according to Ballus and Martin, Begiristain thought City’s plans – which had been in the making for years – were about to go “up in smoke”.
But Quintana proposed a solution that seemed to appease Pep Guardiola – and quell Begiristain’s fears.
“I just told him, ‘No worries; if we have to, we’ll build you what you want. It might take a few more months, but we’ll make it happen’.”
In the end, City did not need to build Guardiola a mansion but instead moved into a luxurious apartment complex in Salford called City Suites and has been happy with it.
Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam is out today
