He didn't get any heat from within the club. But that's not really the point. None of that explains why he'd make a gentleman's agreement instead of just leaving the decision open. And why City also extended Pellegrini's contract earlier than necessary. If the only reason to do that was to detract from the deal with Pep, it's the worst decision ever made. It's not possible to keep an already fixed deal with Pep under wraps anyway and now you have to pay off Pellegrini to get out of the contract.
There's really nothing that makes sense about that gentleman's agreement. Of course it doesn't mean that he won't sign for City next summer, that's possible. It's also possible that he already made his decision and there are contract negotiations under way right now, either to extend at Bayern or to sign for a new club. But then his decision is based on what he wants right now, that's it. The notion that he would prefer to work for United, but won't take over there because he doesn't want to offend his friends at City makes zero sense to me. What's next, he can't take over at Arsenal, because it would hurt Pedro's feelings at Chelsea? Other than the emotional connection to Barca, which means he'll never work at Real, the football world is wide open for him.