Legendary Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is set to leave the club after his contract expires in 2025. While the Spaniard confirmed that he would be staying at the club for the upcoming season, he expressed doubt about his future at Manchester beyond his contract.
“The reality is I am closer to leaving than staying,” Guardiola said when asked about his future. “We have talked with the club. I will stay next season and during the season we will talk. But eight or nine years? We will see.”
Guardiola had a successful career as a player before transitioning to management. He came up through the youth ranks of Barcelona and went on to captain the club, playing 479 games. He also had brief stints in Italy, Qatar, and Mexico and was considered an excellent holding midfielder in his prime.
After impressing as the head coach of Barcelona B, Barcelona appointed him as the manager ahead of the 2008-09 season. The former Barcelona legend announced himself to the managerial world by winning the treble in his first senior season as a manager. Guardiola went on to win 14 trophies in his four years at the club, including three La Liga titles and two UEFA Champions League trophies.
The Spaniard then headed to Germany to manage Bayern Munich. After winning three consecutive league titles and two DFB-Pokal trophies, Guardiola decided it was time for another challenge and set his sights on England.
Guardiola took a year to adapt to English football, finishing third in his debut season with Manchester City. The next season, City won the league with a record 100 points. The following six seasons saw unprecedented dominance by the Sky Blues, winning five Premier League titles, including four on the trot.
Guardiola has ingrained the team with a winner’s mentality. The players have almost always shown up when required, with the team having gone on long winning streaks to win the title multiple times. With Guardiola’s Man City, winning just seems inevitable sometimes.
After losing to Chelsea in the 2021 UEFA Champions League final, Guardiola finally led City to the coveted trophy in 2023. The Sky Blues defeated Inter Milan 1-0 in the final to secure their first Champions League trophy in history. Coupled with the Premier League title and FA Cup trophy, this marked the first treble for Man City.
Having achieved so much success, the motivation to continue seems to be missing for the legendary manager. “I had that last season after Istanbul,” he said. “I said, ‘It’s over, there’s nothing left’. But I have a contract, I’m still here. Some moments, I was a bit tired. But some moments, I loved. We were winning games and looking good with new players. So I started to think, ‘No one has done four in a row, why don’t we try?’. And now it’s been done. So what next?”
Five in a row, Pep?
