Bayern's Rummenigge: Club wouldn't have landed Guardiola if money had been only factor

Germany Soccer Bundesliga Bayern Guardiola

FILE - In thisMay. 5, 2012 file picture then FC Barcelon's coach Pep Guardiola is thrown in the air after the match FC Barcelona and Espanyol during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain.German soccer club Bayern Munich says Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013 Pep Guardiola will become the club's coach in July on 3-year contract. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez,File) (The Associated Press)

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In this Jan. 7, 2013 file picture Spain's Pep Guardiola, one of the nominees for the FIFA Men's World Soccer Coach of the Year Award, attends a press conference during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland. German Bundesliga soccer club Bayern Munich says Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013, Pep Guardiola will become the club's coach in July on 3-year contract. (AP Photo/Keystone/Walter Bieri) (The Associated Press)

MUNICH – Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has conceded that the German club wouldn't have been able to win the race for Pep Guardiola if money had been the only factor.

Bayern, Germany's most consistently successful club, announced Wednesday that former Barcelona great Guardiola had signed a three-year deal starting next season to become its coach.

Guardiola had been linked with possible moves to wealthy English clubs.

Rummenigge says "if it had been exclusively about money, we wouldn't have had any chance at all."

Rummenigge adds "the overall concept" played a key role in Guardiola's choice and Bayern has a good image.

The chairman says Guardiola, who is on a one-year sabbatical after leaving as Barcelona coach last season, is hard at work learning German.