Ronaldo says Pep Guardiola was approached to take Brazil role

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Football legend Ronaldo has said that Pep Guardiola was approached by Brazil to take over as manager as the South American nation look to appoint a new head coach.

Speaking to CCMA, the former Real Madrid and FC Barcelona superstar revealed that the Brazilian FA were interested in appointing Guardiola as their successor to Tite, who recently left his post as manager of the national team following their disappointing exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Brazil flew out to Qatar as favourites for the competition only to be dumped out at the quarter-final stages by Croatia on penalties, with the Selecao now on the hunt for a new manager to lead the likes of Vinicius Junior and Gabriel Martinelli into a new era.

And appointing Guardiola with have made a lot of sense for Brazil before the City manager signing a new deal with the Manchester giants, with the Catalan coach previously stating that he would want to work in South America as reported by the Express.

Indeed, the possibility of Brazil one day appointing Guardiola feels likely. However, the time is now simply not right for the former Bayern Munich manager, with Ronaldo revealing that talks took place with the City boss’ coaching staff as well as the Catalan himself.

Ronaldo said when asked about Brazil appointing Guardiola: “There was interest in Guardiola, it was discussed with Guardiola’s coaching staff, but he preferred to renew the contract with Manchester City. It might be difficult for the CBF to reach an agreement, he is the highest-paid coach in the world.”

Brazil would be Guardiola’s next great project post-Manchester City

Guardiola has always viewed himself as a student of the game, a manager who is always learning and willing to travel to every corner of the Earth to discover new methods of coaching and to present these tactics to a wider audience, which is why Brazil would be such a perfect match for the City boss.

After all, Guardiola has been linked the Brazil job for years, and with the 51-year-old signing a new deal with City in recent weeks, it feels like the Catalan coach taking over the Selecao will happen at some point in his career once his time in Manchester is up.