Pep Guardiola has his sights set on Arsenal if the North London club decide to part ways with Arsene Wenger according to a source close to the coach.
A source close to Guardiola claimed on goal.com that the former Barcelona coach would rather go to Arsenal than Chelsea because of the greater stability they have. Arsenal also have a very similar infrastructure to Barcelona in the respect that they seem geared up to splash the cash internally over the next few years to keep the best players at the club.
Arsenal do not have a global support base like Barcelona or the socio-political links that the Catalan club enjoys. Therefore, they have developed a superb business model which allows the club to operate at profit and ensures the manager has money to spend on players over the next few years but also to develop the wage structure of the club.
“Guardiola’s preference in England is Arsenal. The club are aware he would be interested in the job in 2013. Guardiola doesn’t want to go to Chelsea. He is worried about the lack of stability. He also has a good relationship with Wenger dating back to when he started doing his coaching badges at Arsenal,” the source told goal.com.
What the financial stability means that Guardiola will be able to build a team at Arsenal in the same way that he built the current Barcelona side. He can bring players up through the youth ranks and then cash can be used internally to price that player out of the price range of many clubs who would subsequently sign them.
This means Arsenal can develop players for the first team under Guardiola from a very young age. He can brand his philosophy on the club from the basic youth teams all the way up to the first team. Arsenal have proven they would allow him to have a go at such a method because they have kept faith in Wenger for 16 years and counting despite the lack of a trophy over the last seven and a half years.
The other major reason why Guardiola would be interested in Arsenal is because it doesn’t seem as though he’d have to answer to anyone. Chelsea managers have always danced to the tune of Roman Abramovich but the Wenger era has shown that at Arsenal, the manager has complete authority and control over team matters.
Guardiola made some high profile signings at Barcelona but he was not a consistent spender of big cash at the Spanish club. If Arsenal want to continue their business model for the next one or two seasons before large chunks of investment are made externally then it won’t bother Guardiola in the slightest.
image: © tpower1978
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