22 hours ago
35
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been speaking about his future again and it bodes well for the club
Pep Guardiola has given one of those treats of an interview again. Not the ones where he is ushered into a press conference room four times a week looking like he would rather be anywhere else, but one where he is not asked who is fit for the weekend or why he isn't starting Jack Grealish.
Every so often, the Manchester City boss allows himself to talk more openly and more conversationally about work and life more generally - unsurprisingly, this usually comes when he is not in the heat of battle and when he can speak more freely in his own tongue. Which brings us to GQ Hype magazine, where Guardiola has, among other things, confirmed that he will take a break after City.
It is more clear than when he said the same thing in May, prompting some to feverishly speculate that he would definitely walk away from the Blues in 2027 when his contract is up. As he reiterated then, so now he has confirmed that there is no end date to his time at the Etihad but that he will definitely have something of a break when he leaves City.
Having been in the crowd to watch Oasis return for glorious Manchester gigs, and having already stayed in the City and in coaching for longer than he originally anticipated, a Guardiola comeback is surely on the cards. He retains aspirations to manage a national team, and there will be no shortage of offers in the same way that England were genuinely interested last summer.
It remains the case that he is closer to leaving City than staying too, given this will be his tenth season in charge. In the interview with GQ Hype, he jokes about his body feeling 75 as he talks about the seasons taking years off his life.
He will need a break at some point and City are resigned to that. But it hasn't happened yet when everybody thought it would have done.
Some didn't think he'd last a season in England, and even those close to him didn't expect a fourth contract renewal last November. He has achieved everything he wanted to achieve at City, and yet still he stayed and committed until 2027.
If City know that he won't stay forever, they have already kept him longer than anyone anticipated. And, as of the last season, he surprised many more by taking charge of the biggest rebuild at the club since 2017 when he was only a year in.
That means they are doing a good job keeping Guardiola happy as well as motivated, and for as long as that is the case they stand a good chance of extending his time at the Etihad and delaying his next break.
---
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.
English (US) ·