Manchester City yet to comment on Mancini Monaco Talks

Manchester City have not spoken out on reports that manager Roberto Mancini met with Monaco towards the end of last season to discuss a future move to the French club. Mancini signed a five-year deal in the summer so is there any substance and would Pep Guardiola replace him?

Manchester City have been exposed in a number of ways so far this season that have led to manager Roberto Mancini receiving a lot of criticism. Some of his tactics have been questioned and there will now be further bad feeling after reports that the Italian met with Monaco last season during City’s run in, to discuss a possible coaching role at the French club.

Football has often showed that contracts don’t mean a great deal but it wouldn’t be sensible for Mancini to sign a new five-year contract in the summer if he knew he was not going to be at the club for an extended period. So if the talks actually happened, what might have been discussed? Well, Mancini and Monaco may well have agreed in principle to a future move to Monaco as the Italian does still have ambitions with City such as winning the Champions League.

This brings us onto the next question of who might replace Mancini in the next season or two if he jumps ship and heads off to the glitz and glamour of France. One high profile boss without a job is Pep Guardiola. However, Guardiola has been quieter than a set of Arsenal fans getting beaten at Highbury ever since he announced that he was leaving Barcelona.

There have been heavy links in the media that Manchester United are lining up Guardiola as a long term replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson. However, he is available and the financial pulling power and the potential of Manchester City is so huge that Guardiola could find it difficult to resist any move from City which would certainly signify a big contract and a bottomless pit of money for him to spend on players, Lionel Messi perhaps?

The reports over Mancini’s contact with Monaco are confusing. The Italian has not seemed troubled at City and he has certainly not voiced any words of discontent which he has with the club that would lead him to want to get out of his current situation as quickly as he can. This leads us to the idea that the reports could be fabrication or there may have been some innocent reason for Mancini meeting Monaco officials. However, if this was the case City should have already commented.

Mancini seems to be in control of city in terms of the football club and the players. This is an outside view and no one other than those close to the manager knows exactly what he is thinking or planning on doing over the next couple of years. City fans will be eager for a little bit of news from the club because after all Mancini is the first manager who has actually turned investment into success ever since the money bags were attached to Manchester City.

image: © andybrannan

Lewis Doe

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Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.