Pep Guardiola has enjoyed good six-and-a-half-years at Manchester City so far, leading the club a to a whopping lot of trophies. The Spaniard took over the reigns at City in 2016, and has only tasted success with the club. However, its his last year of contract at the club, which now has just over six months left on it. No talks as of yet have been heard about an extension being discussed between Guardiola and the club’s UAE based owners.
But its quite certain that the owners of the club want Guardiola to extend his stay in Manchester after leading them to 4 Premier League titles so far. The club has heavily invested in the 51-year-old’s project, handing him signings worth a mammoth £1.4 billion since he joined the club. It is understandable that City would want to tie their manager to a new, long term contract as the former Bayern Munich boss has now himself shed some light on the matter.
Pep Guardiola reckons City will be his longest stay of managerial career
As per multiple reports, the City owners are preparing a new deal to be tabled in front of Pep Guardiola who is anticipating it as well. However, it is still unclear whether he will put pen to paper on that contract given his history of not staying in one place for many years. After starting with his parent club FC Barcelona, where he stayed for 4 years, Guardiola switched sides with Bayern Munich in 2013 and before joining City in 2016. Talking about his future ahead of City’s clash against Brentford, Guardiola said:
“Stay in another place for seven years? No, I don’t think so. It is difficult to find what I have here as a manager. To be a manager for a long time you need to be so supported. The results help a lot; that is undeniable. In this world they sack you, they fire you, we know that. But at big clubs the part of the success of the manager is the chairman, the sporting director especially, and all the people here. It [this support] goes to the media, fans and players. It shows stability. This is why I think only in a few clubs this can happen.”
“I don’t talk about that. Everything is under control, it’s perfect, the decision will be made together with the club the moment it has to be made. I said many times, I had the feeling that both the club and myself are happy to be together. It’s not the moment [for this]. Brentford is the only important thing right now. When we have time, when we feel it is the right moment, both sides, we take a decision.”
Pep Guardiola certainly has an unfinished business at City, in winning the coveted UEFA Champions League trophy. His trophy cabinet at City is going to look incomplete despite all the accolades there until he places the trophy with the big ears there. City were within the reach of winning their first ever Champions League crown in 2021, only to be shocked by Chelsea in the final. And till date, the Champions League trophy is the only one which Guardiola has had to walk past without lifting it at City.
He will look to finally win one this year, as City are through to the Round of 16 and face RB Leipzig in the two-legged affair. Moreover, Guardiola also has the ‘Erling Haaland weapon’ this time, which has fired in 23 goals in just 16 games in all competitions so far since moving from Borussia Dortmund this summer. Nonetheless, Guardiola has even more firepower in his ranks to go all the way to conquer Europe, which he last did in 2011 with Barcelona.