Mourinho and Guardiola pose threat to Premier League rivals

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Mourinho and Guardiola pose threat to Premier League rivals It’s like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo becoming available for absolutely nothing while still stars of the game. But this is all happening off the field. Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, two of football’s shrewdest minds and most successful coaches, are available – one right now, one at the end of the season – with no compensation fees required to buy them out of their contracts. They are for hire in contrasting circumstances but surely no less desirable. Mourinho’s reputation has been bruised by being fired for a second time by Chelsea, while Guardiola is opting to walk away from Bayern Munich next summer, leaving on his own terms just as he did at Barcelona. Their availability will put fear into current coaches at Europe’s leading clubs whose jobs just became a lot less secure. For an owner in need of a quick fix, Mourinho is available immediately and the next major vacancy could well be at Manchester United. Louis van Gaal has faced the wrath of United fans during a six-game winless run, which includes embarrassing losses in succession to Premier League newcomers Bournemouth and Norwich. Mourinho and United sometimes seems a match destined to happen. For a club fixated on amassing commercially appealing players, who better to occupy the dugout than one of its biggest characters who brings a track record of glory? Now Mourinho could be the manager required to deliver that much-needed adrenaline shot to a disjointed squad, which has crashed out of the Champions League in the group stage after only just rejoining Europe’s elite. Despite his latest failure at Chelsea, a good coach doesn’t suddenly become a dud within seven months. Should Mourinho end up at Old Trafford, then former rival Guardiola could end up across the city at the Eithad. Even before Bayern announced that Guardiola would be leaving at the end of the season, the 44-year-old was already being linked with the Manchester City job still occupied by Manuel Pellegrini. Pellegrini can hardly complain if his successor has already been lined up as he had been approached before the firing of Roberto Mancini, who had himself been lined up when Mark Hughes was dismissed in a chaotic coaching change at City. Although Guardiola has never worked in England, Manchester City has the Camp Nou ethos now engrained throughout the Abu Dhabi-owned club. On a day-to-day basis it is being run by former Barcelona executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain. And it was while at Barcelona that Guardiola made an immediate impact as a first-time manager by sweeping to 14 titles over four seasons before joining Bayern. Premier League clubs are not viewed as a first-choice destination for stars at their peak, with Gareth Bale and Ronaldo enticed by Real Madrid and Lionel Messi showing no desire to come to England. But with Jurgen Klopp a recent arrival at Liverpool – and Diego Simeone linked with the Chelsea vacancy from next season – Mourinho finding another job in the Premier League and Guardiola making his debut would show that English coaching roles at least are still attractive to managers. Read the original story at: Mourinho and Guardiola pose threat to Premier League rivals