Can the stars align for England and Pep Guardiola? | OneFootball

Manchester City manager has previously suggested international football appeals

Lee Carsley’s chances of being named England's next permanent boss appeared to go up in smoke last week, when the interim head coach presided over a shambolic home defeat to Greece and offered little clarity over his future in a series of contradictory and confusing media appearances.

If it is clarity you want, Guardiola has made his position on managing his native Spain crystal clear – "I'll never be coach of the national team," he has said – so he will have to look elsewhere to fulfill his dream of coaching in international football.

Guardiola played 47 times for Spain but considers himself Catalan, and is a staunch supporter of the region's desire for independence. In the current political climate, he would never be asked to coach the European champions, even if they actually needed him.

England, though, do need a manager of Guardiola's pedigree and there is no-one who better fits the FA's desired profile of a coach with a history of delivering major honours and an intimate understanding of English football.

Guardiola, 53, has said he is attracted by the allure of leading Brazil, but there is also a romance to England, albeit of a more agonised sort.

What better way for Guardiola to burnish his legacy and cement his place as arguably the greatest coach in history than by leading England to the holy grail of a first tournament win since 1966? As it stands, the only thing missing from his CV is international honours (an Olympic Gold with Spain's U-23s in 1992, aside).

Guardiola this week offered the FA encouragement, saying "anything's possible", and there are compelling reasons to think this could be his final campaign with City, not least because his contract is up in the summer.

Pep Guardiola is coming towards the end of his contract at Manchester City

Action Images via Reuters

Guardiola has always taken on projects with established teams that are capable of domination -- Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City -- and England fit the bill; they have the talent-pool and infrastructure. They just need to learn to get over the line.

There are potential stumbling blocks to a deal, most obviously over salary. The FA paid Gareth Southgate £5million a year, around a quarter of what Guardiola earns at City, so he would have to be willing to take a massive pay-cut and perhaps view England as a passion project.

Though international football is slower-paced, there is also the question of whether Guardiola would be willing to walk into such a high-profile role straight from nine gruelling years at City.

Like Jurgen Klopp, he may want a break before choosing his next job but qualification for the 2016 World Cup begins in March or September, so the FA cannot afford to wait too long.

Guardiola is reportedly planning to decide his future in the next few weeks to avoid leaving City in the lurch, which is good news for the FA, who have installed Carsley as interim until after next month's camp and would presumably keep him on for longer if there was any chance of luring the Catalan in the summer.

Pursuing Guardiola would therefore require patience and may be eye-wateringly expensive, but it would also be enormously ambitious and exciting.

There is no manager, irrespective of nationality, who would have more chance of success with England than Guardiola, who would be a different type of foreign appointment to Sven Goran-Eriksson or Fabio Capello because he is already deeply embedded in the English game.

If the stars do align for England, and Guardiola decides that next summer is the right time to step away from City, he would have no shortage of suitors, so the FA should move heaven and earth to persuade him to take on the impossible job.