Manchester City to give Pep Guardiola £150mln

Baku. 2 February. REPORT.AZ/ Pep Guardiola will have at least £150m to spend on players when he replaces Manuel Pellegrini as the Manchester City manager in the summer. The Spaniard’s salary will also rise to €20m (£15.2m) after it was confirmed he will move to the Etihad following the expiry of his contract with Bayern Munich, Report informs referring to The Guardian.

City’s standing as the richest club in the world along with next season’s record Premier League broadcast deal of £5.14bn means Guardiola will be given the backing to enter the market as he wishes in the close season. The club’s finances will be further swelled by the new overseas broadcast deal, expected to be a minimum of €3bn.

He is a close friend of City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, and is expected to consult him regarding transfers before taking over on 1 July.

Guardiola earns €17m at Bayern Munich but this is to increase by €3m in recognition of his standing as one of the world’s most sought after managers. City believed they were close to landing the 45-year-old in 2012 before he decided to take a sabbatical and this strengthened Guardiola’s bargaining position with regard to the three-year contract he signed.