Manchester City are playing the long game over Pep Guardiola’s successor.

Although the start of the 2023/24 campaign seems a long way off at present, the fact is it’s just a season and a half away and, by then, it’s expected that Pep Guardiola will pack his bags at Manchester City and move on.

Well before that time, the hierarchy will need to have secured a high-profile replacement and a man who, if not quite at Guardiola’s level, would still be an acceptable replacement.

From a fan’s perspective, it would surely have to be someone that has the same footballing ideology, for City have been one of the most exciting teams to watch over the past few seasons.

To that end, there are potentially only three managers that could step into the role with relative ease. Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers.

The first two can be discounted immediately with the former likely to be coming to the end of his own tenure at Liverpool and looking for a sabbatical, and Tuchel still in the middle of his project at Stamford Bridge.

That would leave Rodgers with a clear run at the top job, and it’s believed that City are already playing the long game as far as the current Leicester City boss is concerned.

“Manchester City have been working on Brendan Rodgers for years. He’s been on their list for years,” Times journalist, Jonathan Northcroft said on The Transfer Window podcast, cited by Leicester Mercury.

“He (Rodgers) knows that they like him, they let him know that they like him on the basis that if we ever come to change Pep Guardiola, or when Pep leaves, we’d be interested in you.”

Any hire won’t be straightforward mind, particularly given that Rodgers has always noted what a pleasure it is to work for the current Leicester owners.

Were he to be tempted away the City job would seem to be a logical step, because with his experience at Liverpool and Celtic he’s one of very few managers that wouldn’t be overawed by the position and responsibilities.