Vincent Kompany has Michail Antonio’s support in the race to succeed Pep Guardiola as Manchester City’s manager.
The end of the upcoming season will mark the end of the Spaniard’s current deal with the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola joined the team in 2016, and since then, the subject of who might succeed him has come up. One Premier League player now playing has offered his opinion on who might succeed the 52-year-old manager.
Antonio supports Kompany to take over for Guardiola.
On who he believes will succeed Guardiola at City, Antonio had this to say in a recent episode of The Footballer’s Football Podcast.
Honestly, he said. I think [Kompany] will succeed Pep Guardiola as manager of Manchester City. At least, that’s how I feel if Pep ever retires and Burnley continues to perform well. That, in my opinion, is the next move.
The reason he should be able to approach them and say, “I’m not Pep, I’m coming in and want to bring a new philosophy,” is because he has strong standing there, as opposed to Vincent Kompany at Man City and David Moyes at Manchester United. Right now, I want to introduce my own ideology, but the club is still firmly rooted in Pep’s, so doing so will be challenging.
I feel he could go in there and give himself a good opportunity – maybe two or three years – before they feel they have to get rid of him, unless he goes in and has an absolute stinker, which I don’t think he will. As long as he can have the conversation, which I feel he should be able to since he has been there for so long and is an actual Man City legend himself.
The 37-year-old has played for City for almost 11 years and has made 360 appearances, so he undoubtedly has the connections and knowledge to fit in well at the club.
Before being hired as Burnley’s manager back in July of last year, the Belgian managed Anderlecht for one season, winning 41 of the 90 games he missed, drawing 30 and losing 19.
The Lancashire club has lost six of its eight Premier League games this season, drawing one, and winning the other after enjoying a fairly good season in the Championship last year that helped the Clarets return to the top division.
If Guardiola were to leave City after his current contract expires, we believe that the club’s upper management should look for a successor who they believe is best qualified to lead the team professionally rather than taking a chance by hiring Kompany out of sentimentality.