Pep Guardiola backed to manage England by former star Gerard Pique – EXCLUSIVE

Pep Guardiola is the perfect fit to replace Gareth Southgate as England manager, according to Gerard Pique.

The Manchester City boss’ contract at the Etihad is set to expire at the end of the season and England are weighing up their options while Lee Carsley has been placed in interim charge.

Pique had an extremely successful period playing under Guardiola during their four years together at Barcelona.

The retired defender also knows exactly what it takes to win international football tournaments having claimed two European Championships and the World Cup with Spain between 2008 and 2012.

He feels it would be the natural step for Guardiola to take charge of England, the nation he has dominated domestically winning six Premier League titles.

“I think he would be great, he would be amazing,” Pique told Express Sport at PokerStars’ 20th anniversary of EPT Barcelona.

“He understands perfectly the Premier League and English football and I know he wants to be the manager of a national team in the future. I think it makes sense for Guardiola to be the coach of England.”

Pique attended Southgate’s final game at the helm – a 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final this summer.

One of the privileges of being a two-time winner is easy access to tickets and he took his two two sons, Milan, 11 and Sasha, 9, to the victory in Berlin. Although that meant he had to forgo the late-night party to put his children to bed.

Pique felt for the Three Lions that night and believes their 58-year trophy drought will soon come to an end.

“I think that they are knocking on the door and at some point the door opens,” Pique said. “I think they have a good team, had a good coach.

“I love English fans, how committed they are and how much they want their national team to win. But I think it has been so many years since they won the last time so I hope they can win it at some point.”

Spain shrugged off their underdog tag quickly to become the dominant force in Germany, with 17-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal stealing the show.

But they also had a number of players from clubs outside of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Athletic Bilbao duo Unai Simon and Nico Williams started every meaningful match, while Real Sociedad had five stars in the 26-man squad, including Mikel Oyarzabal, who dealt the brutal blow against England.

Pique is wary of putting too much pressure on the young squad for them to dominate like his Spain side.

And he also explained how English teams’ congested schedule may have led to them falling short once again.

“I think they (Spain) were the best by far at the Euros. I also think that most of the teams arrived very tired from their leagues and their competitions,” Pique added.

“Most of the players didn’t play much during the season because they were at Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, (Dani) Olmo was injured part of the year.

“So they arrived very fresh to the competition and they played an amazing competition.

“It is very difficult to continue winning for so many years. I don’t want to put pressure on them and let’s see what happens in the World Cup in 2026.”