England icon Paul Gascoigne believes it may well be in the FA's best interests to hold fire on appointing a permanent successor to Gareth Southgate...if they can tempt Pep Guardiola into taking the job.
The former Tottenham and Lazio midfielder earned 57 caps for his country from 1988-1998, playing a memorable and pivotal role in helping England reach the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96.
Both of those drives to the semi-finals came under former or future Barcelona managers, Sir Bobby Robson and Terry Venables, and Gazza would be tremendously excited to see another take the post if Manchester City boss Guardiola were to decide to move on at the end of his current contract.
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Paul Gascoigne wants Pep Guardiola for England
Lee Carsley has been appointed as interim manager of the Three Lions following Gareth Southgate's resignation after England's defeat in the Euro 2024 final, while Guardiola is yet to make a decision about whether he will stay or go at Man City at the end of this season.
And Gascoigne told Techopedia: “[Guardiola has] got so much respect [from others], he's been manager of Barcelona and they’ve had the best players in the world. And Bayern Munich. He's performed with them, you know?
"All his teams have respect for him. I was told that Gareth Southgate was going to Manchester United and Pep Guardiola was going to be the manager of England! So we’ll see what happens this year.
"Maybe it'll happen next summer. If he's on that much money and he's winning five trophies a season, what achievement.”
Guardiola has led City to huge success since arriving in 2016, delivering six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and the Champions League to the Etihad Stadium.
Although hugely ambitious, it's not unthinkable to us that Guardiola may be tempted into the international scene with England.
He said earlier this year: "I would like to have the experience of living through a World Cup, or a Euro or a Copa America, or whatever it is. I would like that. I don't know when that could be, if that is five, 10, 15 years from now but I would like to have the experience of being a manager in a World Cup."
A proud Catalan, Guardiola said in 2018 he thinks the prospect of managing Spain is 'not going to happen'.
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