Guardiola Turns Down Inter Miami to Pursue International Football

David Beckham made Pep Guardiola his No.1 coaching target for Inter Miami after Javier Mascherano resigned in April. The Mirror reported this week that the former Manchester City manager has made it plain Beckham is wasting his time, having committed to a multi-month sabbatical before pursuing international management.

Italy has had no national coach since their third consecutive World Cup qualifying failure. France’s Didier Deschamps and Mauricio Pochettino, who manages the United States at this summer’s tournament, both have contracts expiring when the final whistle sounds. The English Football Association ran Guardiola’s name through its shortlist in 2024 before Thomas Tuchel accepted the role; by most accounts, the conversation hasn’t ended there.

Beckham’s First Choice Walks Away

Mascherano stepped down on April 14, citing personal reasons, roughly four months after guiding Inter Miami to the 2025 MLS Cup, the club’s first championship. Beckham, the club’s co-owner, declined to rush the search. Guillermo Hoyos, then serving as the club’s sporting director, stepped in as interim manager while the ownership group held the door open for a name with genuine global weight.

The name Beckham had circled quickly became public knowledge. Multiple reports, citing club sources, described his plan as a reunion between the City manager and Lionel Messi, who had worked together at FC Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, winning two Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles. Beckham viewed the potential appointment, per those sources, as a commercial and sporting masterstroke, one that would cement the club and MLS as a global football destination in a summer when the World Cup’s arrival in North America was already drawing international attention.

He is determined to take a sabbatical from the game, to spend time with his loved ones and recharge his batteries.

Jeremy Cross of The Mirror attributed those terms to the manager’s inner circle this week. He has since confirmed he won’t travel to North America for the tournament, removing any chance of the face-to-face meeting the club’s approach had depended on.

The Break He Said Was Coming

The departure from Manchester City came a year before his contract’s natural end, a decision the manager made himself. Enzo Maresca, his former assistant, takes over at the Etihad Stadium. Rather than return immediately to the dugout, the 55-year-old will serve as Global Ambassador for the City Football Group (CFG), the holding company that controls Manchester City alongside clubs in New York, Melbourne, Yokohama, and seven others. He leaves with 20 trophies in ten seasons, including six Premier League titles, five League Cups, three FA Cups, and the club’s first Champions League. The CFG role covers technical advisory work, with the club describing it publicly as involvement in “specific projects and collaborations” across the global network.

The interest in coaching a national team predates this departure by years. Sports Illustrated reported in May that the desire was something he had spoken about publicly “as far back as 2018,” when the club were mid-way through a record-breaking 100-point Premier League campaign. Sources close to the manager confirm the position hasn’t shifted since.

The CFG arrangement is structured to avoid any conflict of interest with a future national team appointment. There is no club affiliation, no fixture schedule, no transfer window attached. It functions as a holding position as much as a working one, and the terms of it reflect that plainly enough.

At the Heineken-hosted Q&A ahead of the Champions League final in late May, Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez was asked where he expected his former manager to land. Xavi said the next step would be a national team, adding that England was the destination that made most sense to him. Pressed directly on whether it was realistic, he kept it short: “Spain is so difficult but maybe England.”

Miami’s Coaching Question Finds an Answer

After the pursuit of a marquee appointment hit a wall, the club confirmed its existing answer. ESPN reported on June 2, citing transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, that Hoyos would remain head coach through the full 2026 MLS season, rather than serving only until the World Cup break as originally expected. Hoyos told reporters at his first session in charge at Colorado that he was “at the club’s service.” The results since have backed that up.

Since Hoyos took over on April 14:

• 6-1-1 record across eight league matches
• 26 goals scored, the highest eight-game total in the club’s MLS history
• 19 points from a possible 24

Miami sit second in the Eastern Conference at 9-2-4 overall, trailing Nashville SC by two points in the Supporters’ Shield race.

Before Hoyos was confirmed as the season-long option, two other names had drawn genuine consideration. Xavi Hernandez, available since leaving FC Barcelona, emerged as the strongest alternative candidate; sources described his profile as a natural fit given his existing relationship with Messi and his recent coaching experience at the top of European club football. Marcelo Gallardo, who built River Plate into a South American continental force through the mid-2010s, was also linked. The CONCACAF Champions Cup elimination against Nashville SC earlier in the season had added urgency to the search; Mascherano had cited the competition as a stated priority for the club’s first half of 2026. With Hoyos confirmed, both alternatives are likely to resurface when the club makes its permanent appointment heading into 2027.

The International Market He’s Entering

At 55, the former City manager has at least one full international cycle available if he wants it. His stated preference for a national team role, confirmed by those close to him and structurally backed by the CFG arrangement, puts several federations in a queue whose length depends on contractual timing none of them fully controls. This summer’s tournament is doing its own work on that queue: three elite managers are out of contract when the final ends.

France and Spain both represent near-term possibilities. Deschamps has managed Les Bleus since 2012, and his post-tournament future is a recurring subject in French football. Spain’s Luis de la Fuente won Euro 2024 and enters this summer’s draw as the reigning European champions; his contract position beyond the tournament has not been publicly locked in, making Spain another job that could clear within months. Brazil’s Carlo Ancelotti is the main complication: per reports, the Italian manager recently extended his deal with the Selecao through 2030, removing South America’s most prominent coaching post from consideration for most of the coming decade.

That leaves France, Italy, Spain, and the English Football Association as the four realistic destinations, and of those four, only one seat is empty today.

Italy’s Vacancy and England’s Long Wait

Azzurri’s Coaching Void

Of the four realistic scenarios, only one requires no waiting. The Azzurri have missed three consecutive World Cups (2018, 2022, and 2026), a sequence without precedent in the modern history of Italian football. Their coaching seat has been vacant since the most recent qualifying campaign collapsed. Reports in the British and Italian press have specifically named the federation as the most concrete near-term destination for the 55-year-old, given his familiarity with the Italian game and the scale of the rebuild the job demands.

The project is structurally different from club management. There is no transfer market, no Champions League group stage running parallel to a domestic season, no October window to navigate. What the Azzurri job carries is a reconstruction mandate with a clear starting point: three consecutive absences from the tournament the Italian federation treats as the only measure that ultimately matters. The coaching position has been unfilled since qualifying ended. No appointment has been announced.

For context, Italian football has gone through this kind of extended coaching search before; the federation has historically shown a willingness to take its time finding the right name rather than settle for the available one. A candidate of genuine international stature, not yet committed to a club role, would fit the profile they are working toward.

Waiting Until 2028

Thomas Tuchel is contracted through Euro 2028, having signed an extension confirmed by the FA in February that runs through the home European Championships on British and Irish soil. The Football Association attached “performance conditions” to the deal but declined to confirm publicly whether a poor World Cup result would trigger a break clause. Until results answer that question, the German holds the role.

The FA’s interest in the 55-year-old predates the German’s appointment. Sources close to the manager say the association explored the possibility of appointing him after Gareth Southgate left in 2024, but ultimately settled on Tuchel. Those same sources say England remains Guardiola’s most appealing option among international roles, should it become available. Xavi’s reading at the Champions League event in May pointed in the same direction; asked whether the Three Lions could be a realistic destination, he said Spain posed too many difficulties, then added: “Spain is so difficult but maybe England.”

If the German runs the full deal to 2028, the 55-year-old would be 57 when the window opens. One complete international cycle, covering two major tournaments, would still be on the table.

The 2026 World Cup in North America opens on June 11. He has confirmed he won’t travel to the tournament. The Azzurri’s coaching seat has been empty since their qualifying campaign ended; every other opening on his list depends on contracts he doesn’t hold.