Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich???

When asked about Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich, his successor at Barcelona, Tito Vilanova, said on Wednesday night: "When you are at your home club, it's different." He was answering the question: why has Guardiola signed for three years when he would only ever sign for one at the Nou Camp? The answer fits a variety of other questions surrounding his appointment and his ability to repeat the Barcelona successes elsewhere. Thanks to Vilanova, Barcelona are not missing Guardiola. Will he be missing them come the middle of next season, exposed as having been a mere cog in the Barcelona machine and out of place in Germany? The former Barcelona player and Germany international Bernd Schuster has already pointed out the perils of having the three most powerful and influential men in the club's history watching your every move at Bayern. And Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Höness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge aside, there are other obstacles to overcome.

The former Bayern captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, while approving of the appointment, has already asked the question: "At Barcelona, Guardiola was very successful, but the philosophy is well established there; you have to ask if it can work as well at a different club." The bad news for English football is that it probably can, because Guardiola has chosen the club where he is least likely to fail. Rather than mourn his decision to go elsewhere, fans in England might instead fear the consequences of him going to a club with everything in place to dominate European football, along with Barcelona, for the foreseeable future. Winning 14 trophies from a possible 19 – as he did during his four years in charge at Barcelona – will be hard to match, and his predecessor Johan Cruyff spoke about how difficult the next step would be when he said: "I was lucky, when I left Barcelona I only had 10 years or so ahead of me, he has the best part of his career still to go, in which he will have to live up to what he has achieved at Barcelona."