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The Football Association is set to hire an England interim manager on a one-year deal in order to appoint Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as Gareth Southgate’s replacement.
Southgate resigned as Three Lions manager on Tuesday after eight years in charge.
He led England to a second Euro final, but once again fell short and lost 2-1 to Spain.
He also guided the Three Lions to the semi-finals and quarter-finals at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The race is now on to appoint his successor, with Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, Lee Carsley and Mauricio Pochettino at the top of the FA’s shortlist.
While Guardiola’s signing has received plenty of support from fans and pundits, landing the Manchester City manager has always been seen as a far-fetched fantasy rather than a realistic prospect.
A big reason for this is the desire to appoint a new manager before England’s next games in September and Guardiola is under contract at City until next summer and could yet extend his stay at the Etihad.
However, The Independent (via Metro) reports that there is a growing feeling that Guardiola will call time on his City career at the end of next season.
As such, the FA are prepared to wait for the 53-year-old if they feel there is a chance of hiring him in 2025, and will appoint an interim manager to oversee the national team until then.
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That would likely be England Under-21 manager Carsley, which would also give him the chance to test himself for the senior job if Guardiola became unreachable.
Guardiola has already expressed an interest in moving into international management at some point and is already very familiar with some of England’s top players, including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, John Stones and Kyle Walker.
However, he has no interest in becoming Spain manager due to identifying as Catalan, although the La Roja job is unlikely to be available for some time anyway given their triumph at Euro 2024.
