Guardiola took Bayern for a ride – Hamann

Former Bayern Munich midfielder Dietmar Hamann has hit out at Pep Guardiola over his decision not to inform the Bundesliga champions of his intention to leave the club until December 2015 after months of speculation over his future.

The former Barcelona coach will leave Bayern for Manchester City at the end of the 2015-16 campaign after three years in charge of the Bavarians, despite Bayern’s desire to hold on to Guardiola.

The Spaniard opted to snub the Allianz Arena side in favour of a move to the Premier League, though, and Hamann feels he should have told Bayern of his plans to move on at a much earlier stage.

“Guardiola took Bayern for a ride in my opinion,” Hamann told Sky.

“The whole situation was not what you normally see at Bayern. I was surprised to see Bayern let this happen. I think Bayern lost a bit of respect for Guardiola, because he did not always show his cards. Bayern will have a different view than about six weeks ago.

“Bayern gave their coach more power than even before over the past two years, perhaps without even realising it themselves. It was almost considered blasphemy if you criticised Pep. He was regarded as a saint.

“I will not go as far as to say the backed the wrong horse, but the Champions League will be the ultimate test. If they crash out again like in the last two years, Pep’s era at the club will have been good, but not great.”