Pep Guardiola, the Bayern Munich manager, has revealed his desire to take over at Manchester United.

Guardiola was mooted to be Sir Alex Ferguson’s first choice to take over and even met the former Old Trafford manager in 2012 for dinner “in a super restaurant” when the Spaniard was on a year-long sabbatical from football.

And in the book Pep Confidential, which details his first season in charge of Bayern Munich, he said of United: “I like this atmosphere. I could see myself coaching here one day.”

He opted to stay at Bayern Munich, paving the way for David Moyes to take over at Old Trafford, who in turn was shown the door in favour of Louis van Gaal.

It wasn’t clear whether Guardiola was offered the United job when he met Ferguson and in March this year, soon after winning the Bundesliga title with Bayern, he joked that he could not understand the Scot’s accent.

Guardiola at Old Trafford last season (Getty Images)

“Sir Alex spoke quickly, so sometimes I have a problem understanding him,” he joked. “That’s why maybe I didn’t understand if I received an offer or not!”

The book is a fly-on-the-wall account of Guardiola’s methods as a manager and offers insight into the man and his tactics.

He reveals that he detests the “tiki taka” style made famous when he was at Barcelona, claiming it “has no purpose”, along with what he calls his “monumental fuck up” in last season’s Champions League when Bayern lost 5-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the semi-final.