Heynckes happy with successor

Jupp Heynckes has revealed he is pleased a ‘smart man’ like Pep Guardiola is going to replace him at Bayern Munich.

Guardiola, formerly of Barcelona, signed a three-year deal with the Bundesliga leaders on Wednesday which will see him take over in July.

And Heynckes, who will be retiring at the end of the season to make way for the Spaniard, believes they could not have found a more suitable candidate for the job.

“(I’m being succeeded) by a younger coach who has been very successful. I think it’s good. My successor is a smart man. He has analysed the top European teams and has recognised that Bayern will be the team with whom he can have the most success,” he told reporters.

“I’ll be 68 in the summer, that’s already past retirement age. If everyone worked until that age they’d have a nice pension saved. It was clear to me in the summer that I basically wanted to stop.”

When asked about the possibility of managing in England, the former Germany international was not too keen on the idea.

He added: “As a coach I would not go to England either if I didn’t know how things would look like in four months’ time or if I don’t know how the owner will react.”

Heynckes’ side lead the Bundesliga, nine points ahead of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen and face Arsenal in the last 16 of the Champions League.