BERLIN (AFP) \u2013 German giants Bayern Munich won the battle to secure the most sought after coach in football when former Barcelona handler Pep Guardiola agreed to take over as head coach for the 2013\/14 season.<\/span><\/p>\n The 41-year-old Spaniard \u2013 who last week said he was ready to return to coaching after a brief sabbatical since stepping down from the Barcelona hotseat at the end of last season \u2013 signed a three year contract.<\/p>\n Guardiola, who twice guided Barcelona to the Champions League title, will replace current Munich boss Jupp Heynckes, whose contract expires in June, just after his 68th birthday.<\/p>\n Bayern, who have not won any silverware in the past two seasons, have pulled off a major coup as Guardiola had been linked with jobs in England with both Chelsea and Manchester City being mentioned.<\/p>\n Bayern, who have won a record 22 German league titles as well as four Champions League trophies, made no secret of their delight at beating off high-profile rivals for his signature.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very pleased that we have succeeded in securing the signature of Pep Guardiola, who was being courted by many clubs,\u201d enthused chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.<\/p>\n \u201cPep Guardiola is one of the most successful coaches in the world and we are sure he will lend plenty of glamour, not just to Bayern, but also to German football.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to working with him from July 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n Guardiola\u2019s agent Jose Maria Orobitg revealed his client opted to take charge of the Bavarian side \u201cbecause of all the teams that made him offers, it was the best project.<\/p>\n \u201cBayern weren\u2019t the club which offered the most money,\u201d Orobitg also disclosed to Spanish news agency EFE.<\/p>\n \u201cGuardiola chose the club for its organisation, for the potential he sees and for the players,\u201d said the Spaniard\u2019s agent, who added that an agreement for Guardiola to join Bayern had been in place for approaching a month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe signature was made around Christmas. I don\u2019t recall which day exactly, but it was around December 20.\u201d<\/p>\n Heynckes had told Bayern he will not be extending his contract past June and club president Uli Hoeness paid tribute to the veteran, who steered Bayern to last season\u2019s Champions League final where they lost on penalties to Chelsea.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the decision from Jupp Heynckes, to whom we are extremely grateful for all his work, we would all be very happy if the team gives this coach the glorious farewell he deserves.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an adequate replacement for Jupp Heynckes, only a coach of the calibre of Pep Guardiola could come into question.\u201d<\/p>\n Guardiola will be working as head coach alongside Bayern\u2019s director of sport Matthias Sammer, who joined in July from the German FA, and Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer was quick to praise the club\u2019s success in recruiting such luminaries.<\/p>\n \u201cOne has to say, hats off!\u201d Beckenbauer, who enjoyed World Cup success both as player and coach with the then West Germany, told German Sky.<\/p>\n \u201cMatthias Sammer and Guardiola \u2013 I don\u2019t know if you can get a better team.\u201d<\/p>\n With Bayern facing Arsenal in the last 16 of the Champions League in February, the pressure is on the team to win some silverware after finishing both of the last two seasons without a single trophy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he (Heynckes) brings the season to an end with one title or another, he will have managed an excellent farewell,\u201d added Beckenbauer.<\/p>\n Despite all his success at Barcelona, Guardiola \u2013 whom moody Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic once dubbed \u201ca philosopher\u201d as an insult \u2013 will have his work cut out at Bayern \u2014 where immediate success is demanded.<\/p>\n Former German national coach Jurgen Klinsmann lasted ten months before he was sacked in April 2009, while current Holland boss Louis van Gaal was dismissed in April 2011 despite winning the league and cup double, plus having reached the 2010 Champions League final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BERLIN (AFP) \u2013 German giants Bayern Munich won the battle to secure the most sought after coach in football when former Barcelona handler Pep Guardiola agreed to take over as head coach for the 2013\/14 season. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}