Pep Guardiola is officially expected to remain at Manchester City beyond this season, but the noise around his future has refused to quieten. Despite signing a contract extension that runs until 2027, whispers about his departure have grown louder throughout the campaign, and Premiership title odds for the Sky Blues have been impacted by that uncertainty hanging over the club.
With City still alive in the Premier League title race and potentially on course for a domestic cup double following their Carabao Cup final victory over Arsenal, Guardiola could yet end the season on a high. But if he does walk away, City will need to act quickly to find a worthy successor. Here are the leading candidates.
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Enzo Maresca
The Italian is widely regarded as the frontrunner. Maresca has strong ties to City, having served as one of Guardiola’s assistant managers during the 2022-23 season, and his coaching philosophy is heavily influenced by his time at the Etihad.
His management style is built on controlled possession and positional play, making him an obvious stylistic fit. He guided Leicester City back to the Premier League before taking charge at Chelsea, where a difficult domestic season ultimately led to his dismissal at the start of 2026.
Reports suggest City had spoken to Maresca on at least two occasions while he was still in charge at Stamford Bridge. At 45, he represents a young, forward-thinking appointment who already understands the club’s DNA from the inside.
Vincent Kompany
The Manchester City legend has taken an unconventional path to becoming one of European football’s most credible managers. After impressing with Burnley, Kompany made the move to Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga title in his debut season in Germany.
He signed a contract extension at Bayern in October 2025, tying him to the club until 2029, which means any approach from City would require substantial compensation. That said, the emotional pull of returning to the Etihad as manager would be hard to ignore for Kompany, and City’s ownership would undoubtedly consider him a continuity candidate capable of maintaining the standards Guardiola has set.
Luis Enrique
The PSG manager brings an exceptional CV to the table. A former Barcelona teammate of Guardiola, and later his successor as Barcelona B boss, Luis Enrique has long been spoken of as a natural fit for the City job.
He has transformed PSG into a genuine European superpower, steering them to Champions League glory and building a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts. Extracting him from Paris would be the challenge, particularly given the level of ambition and resource available to him there. But if City could secure his services, they would be landing one of the best managers in the world right now.
Xabi Alonso
The former Bayer Leverkusen boss seemed destined for one of football’s biggest jobs, and his unbeaten Bundesliga title win in 2023-24 only reinforced that view. His appointment at Real Madrid last summer was seen as the beginning of a long-term project, but it unravelled quickly.
Alonso departed the Bernabeu by mutual agreement in January 2026 after just seven months, following a defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup and reports of friction with key players including Vinicius Junior.
He has since been strongly linked with Liverpool, where mutual interest between the two parties has been widely reported, and with Arne Slot’s position under scrutiny at Anfield, that move looks the more likely destination. City would need to move fast and make a compelling case to convince Alonso that the Etihad is the right next step, which seems an uphill task given the Anfield pull.
Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner
For those who prefer Premier League tips from coaches already proven in English football, Iraola and Glasner represent interesting left-field options. Bournemouth’s Iraola has built one of the most tactically coherent teams in the division, consistently getting the best from limited resources and demonstrating a high-intensity attacking approach that would not look out of place at City.
Glasner, meanwhile, guided Crystal Palace to their first major trophy in the club’s history before announcing he would leave Selhurst Park at the end of the season. Both have shown they can compete at the top level of English football.
The question is whether either would be considered ready for the demands of a club the size of City, where the margin for error is non-existent and the expectation is silverware every season. Both would represent a gamble, but an educated one.
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