Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills believes the English champions will struggle to replace current manager Pep Guardiola if the Spaniard decides to quit the Etihad at the end of the season, Soccernet.football reports.
Guardiola, currently in the final year of his contract with City, hinted at the end of last season that this might be his final campaign with the club. However, recent reports indicate that he could sign a one-year extension, extending his stay at the Etihad for a 10th season.
Since joining City in 2016, Guardiola has amassed an impressive 18 trophies, including six Premier League titles, four of them consecutively, a Champions League, two FA Cups, four EFL Cups, a UEFA Super Cup, and a Club World Cup.
Having overseen so much success in his first eight seasons, Mills admitted it would be hard to find someone to fill the gap he will leave behind.
“I think it’s really difficult to find someone to replace Pep. It’s a bit like replacing Alex Ferguson. It’s very, very difficult or replacing Arsene Wenger,” he told Stats Perform.
“Okay, Wenger maybe stayed a little too long, but when he was in his prime period, there wasn’t anyone who could replace him.
“Pep reinvented football in the Premier League, changed the way Manchester City play, and influenced how a lot of teams play.”
“Who do you bring in to take that to the next level? There will be young coaches who get an opportunity. Obviously, Arteta is a big rival at the moment, but he knows the football club, so his name will be in the conversation.
“Someone like Ruben Amorim might have been mentioned, but he’s now crossed to the red side of Manchester, so that rules him out.
“Manchester City used to have the people in place to ensure the succession plan was lined up. Some of those people are now moving on, which creates some uncertainty. City’s planning has always been exceptional from top to bottom, from the sporting director to academy coaches, but that’s been disrupted recently.
“You also throw in the 115 charges against the club. Who knows what’s going to happen with that? I think a lot of the charges are spurious. Look at Forest and Everton – they got penalised for two charges, and City have 115. Some will be trivial, like not dating a piece of paper properly or signing in the wrong place.
“Still, we have to wait for the outcome of that. It doesn’t affect the players now, but it could impact the team and the club going forward.”