FROM SUCCESS TO SUCCESSOR

City fans confident club will find right man when Pep leaves

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

THE longer Pep Guardiola stays at Manchester City and the more he wins, the harder it will be to replace him.

Guardiola is rightly seen as the best coach in the world and a vital figure in the success City have had.

Where the club's rise to the top of English football was originally dismissed as being down to money, the fact they have not been knocked off their perch despite the huge money spent by so many rivals has belatedly woken critics up to the idea that it may have something to do with the performance of the players and staff.

Jurgen Klopp has joked about wishing his biggest rival had taken a sabbatical instead of coaching City and three contract extensions could take the Catalan up to nine years at the Etihad. Even if that stay does not turn into a full decade, the man following Guardiola into the hot seat will be picking up the biggest poisoned chalice since David Moyes replaced Sir Alex Ferguson.

Because of the impact Guardiola has had on the league, and the difficulty United have had (and arguably still have) in replacing Ferguson, there is huge interest in City's replacement plan.