Pep Guardiola is on the verge of signing a multi-million-pound deal with Manchester City’s new kit manufacturer Puma.
The Premier League champions last month announced a 10-year contract with the sportswear giant, worth up to £650million and also covering four of its sister clubs.
Puma are working on landing a number of City’s star players but the manager is viewed as a prized asset. Salaries for top talent usually reach seven figures.
Guardiola, seen as one of very few managers worth sponsorship commercially, was with Gore-Tex while Bayern Munich manager before that agreement ended mutually.
The 48-year-old has been spotted wearing Puma gear this season. Adidas have previously sponsored him.
The Catalan has also been an ambassador for Dsquared2, also an official City partner, since his days at Barcelona. Guardiola took to ripping the Stone Island labels off clothing given his tie-up with Dsquared2 during his early time in England.
City Football Group’s contract with Puma is fourth in Europe, behind Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Puma chief executive Bjorn Gulden revealed the German company are looking at others at City, with Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling three to have been mentioned as potential targets.
Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and David Silva are already ambassadors. ‘We’ll obviously try to pick some,’ Gulden said.
‘If you look at the personalities at City then there are some who are very interesting. We can’t have them all but we’ll add a couple.’
Puma and City declined to comment.