Manchester United will apparently keep their faith in manager Louis van Gaal, despite Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich contract running out at the end of the season.

This leaves rivals Manchester City in pole position to lure the manager to England, according to The Guardian.

Manuel Pellegrini's City have lost three times in their last five matches, including a shock 2-0 defeat to Stoke City on Saturday.

City's chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain have worked with Guardiola in their previous roles at Barcelona, and believe the Spaniard to be an ideal fit for the club.

Van Gaal's contract at United is not up until 2017 and the board seem happy to keep the Dutchman in the manager role till at least then.