THERE seems to have been some degree of shock that Pep Guardiola has turned down the chance to manage in the English game.

With Chelsea and Manchester City certainly looking to have the kind of profiles that would have appealed to the former Barcelona boss, the Catalan (pictured right) has instead opted to take himself off to Germany.

In some ways it is the more sound move as at Bayern Munich the chances of regularly winning at least at domestic level is huge.

Not to play down the strength of clubs like Borussia Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen, but a strong Bayern should have enough to see off their rivals – and one would assume Guardiola will be given funds.

But Guardiola suggested that it was the chance to build ‘a legacy’ at Bayern that was the factor that had tipped the balance.

In other words he was saying he was not expecting to be given the bullet if things didn’t go right straight away.

While Manchester City might have had enough patience, there is little doubt the ex-Barca boss will have looked at Stamford Bridge and thought that not only might he not get the chance to put in place his own team, he might not even be time to get some new curtains.

Which obviously put Southampton out of the running because at St Mary's Stadium if you have not won the FA Cup and the league by mid-January, despite the fact neither competition ends until April-May time, then it is simply not good enough.