Pep Guardiola has made it clear his first choice is Arsenal, with the Spaniard ready to reject offers from Chelsea and Manchester City in favor of taking the top job at the North London club.
According to Goal.com, Guardiola's representatives have sent out feelers about his interest in managing Arsenal if the job became available at the end of the season.
Chelsea and City were believed to be the frontrunners, with Blues owner Roman Abramovich making a concerted effort to bring Guardiola to Stamford Bridge, while the English Premier League champions have hired former Barca chiefs Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano in a bid to entice the highly successful manager to come to Manchester.
However, according to the report, Guardiola is extremely keen on taking the job at Arsenal, owing to their structure and playing style coupled with the history of the club.
"Guardiola's preference in England is Arsenal," a source told Goal.com. "The club are aware he would be interested in the job in 2013.
"Guardiola doesn't want to go to Chelsea. He is worried about the lack of stability. He also has a good relationship with Wenger dating back to when he started doing his coaching badges at Arsenal."
Arsene Wenger is under tremendous pressure at Arsenal currently, after he saw his underperforming side suffer an embarrassing defeat to League Two team Bradford City in the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup.
The Gunners have also been far from firing on all cylinders in the Premier League, and are currently two points behind fourth-placed Everton and a massive 15 points adrift of leaders Manchester United.
Wenger has repeatedly said he will always honor his contract, which runs until 2014, but a move which will see the Frenchman move upstairs in a director's position has been mooted several times in the past.
If Wenger were to leave the manager's position at the end of the season, it is understood the Frenchman will have the final say on who his replacement will be. Guardiola, along with Dragan Stojkovic are his first choices, meaning if Arsenal's most successful manager did resign, the chances of Guardiola, who won 14 trophies with Barcelona, taking over are pretty high.
However, what must be considered is that the likes of Chelsea and City, along with Paris St. Germain will be able to give the former Barcelona a more lucrative deal. Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Inter Milan have also shown an interest in Guardiola, and it remains to be seen where he will end up, with his representatives set to begin talks over his next position at the beginning of 2013.
So will Guardiola be the next manager of Arsenal, or is Wenger still the answer for the Gunners?
