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Manchester City believe they will land Pep Guardiola this summer.

Sunday Mirror Sport understands that the deposed champions have been working on putting an agreement in place with Guardiola to take over at the Etihad in the summer of 2016, when his contract with Bayern Munich expires.

But City have been encouraged by the Spaniard’s disenchantment at Bayern as well as his reticence to discuss a new contract with the German giants.

And they are growing increasingly confident that Guardiola will not see out the remaining 12 months of his contract at the Allianz Arena and will be their new manager at the start of the season.

City are prepared to make the 44-year-old the highest-paid manager in world football and hand him a massive transfer budget to rebuild the team.

(Image: Mike Hewitt)

City chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain worked closely with Guardiola at Barcelona and were recruited to transform the Blues into the Premier League equivalent of the Catalan club.

City have a decision to make about whether Manuel Pellegrini will work the final year of his contract.

If Guardiola stays at Bayern then the Chilean is set to be in charge again next season.

(Image: Matthew Peters)

But Bayern’s campaign has disintegrated since they clinched their third successive Bundesliga title.

They lost at home to rivals Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final of the German Cup.

And last Wednesday they were humiliated 3-0 by Guardiola’s former club, Barcelona, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

In pictures - Barcelona 3-0 Bayern:

Guardiola has come under increasing criticism in Germany.

And he has accepted that winning one trophy will represent a season of underachievement for Bayern.

Guardiola has also made enemies inside the club after Bayern’s long-serving doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt resigned with three of his assistants following a bust-up with Guardiola following a Champions League defeat at Porto.

Guardiola has insisted that he will not walk away from his contract.

But the crunch will come when he opens talks with Bayern about the future at the end of the season.

(Image: A. Hassenstein)

It is unlikely that the club’s hierarchy would welcome the uncertainty that would come with allowing a manager to run down his contract.

Jurgen Klopp is available after announcing his intention to quit Dortmund at the end of the season.

And Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer has already stated that Klopp is regarded as a perfect fit inside the club.