Pep Guardiola agrees with claim he should leave Man City - but there's a catch

A former member of Pep Guardiola's backroom team has said the Catalan should leave Manchester City after so long in charge.

Pep Guardiola has dismissed the claim of his former performance analyst Carles Planchart that he should leave Manchester City to look for a new project and "regenerate.”

The City boss agreed with the premise of Planchart's argument but said he still felt he had the energy to help the players under him at the Etihad and joked he had another decade in him before taking a break.

Guardiola is entering his 10th season in charge of City and has stayed far beyond even his own expectations when he joined the club in 2016. He spent four years at Barcelona and three at Bayern Munich.

He has a contract that runs until the end of next season, but speaking during the international break, Planchart, who worked with Guardiola for 18 years, said he would advise him to walk away now.

"It's a personal decision he'll have to make. I think a project should last five or six years, no more," Planchart said.

"But not for him, for everyone. Afterward, you have to regenerate. As a friend, I would tell him to look for a new project because he still has a long way to go."

Asked about those comments in his press conference ahead of City's game against Everton, Guardiola said: "He’s right but in 2035 I will start to think about it."

He added: "I’m fine, we changed a lot in the last years before but especially the last time and still the energy that my staff brings me and the new players. I had the feeling in Barcelona, I had the feeling in Munich and now here that if I am a problem I will step aside.

"I still have the feeling that I have the energy to help the players make a better season than last season. This is my target. I never sit here in November saying we’re going to win this or this. I don't know what is going to happen against Everton but before the international break we were far away from the top of the league and now we are closer.

"We want to arrive in competitions being close. That is the target I have and I see things that we are doing things much better than last season and every game we are better and better. That gives me the energy that it is not job done, it is unfinished business and that is why I am here."

Guardiola has always said his relationship with his bosses at the Etihad has been vital to his stability at the club and he again praised chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak for providing him with an environment that has enabled him to stay for so long.

Planchart had said any project should only last five or six years and while Guardiola's Etihad adventure has gone well beyond that, the Catalan insists he has plenty left in the tank because of the support structure around him and the changes he has made to his squad and backroom team.

"In life when you have a new project constantly, when you do the same for decades or years to centuries it’s completely different," he said.

"It comes naturally, when the club, the players and manager feels it. We are not the same as when we started 30 or 20 or 10 years ago. We are completely different. That is a question for many reasons. When it happens, it is in a natural way.

"The relationship I have with the chairman is so close and we are incredibly honest when we feel this moment to make another step, for the club, for everyone. Not just about me, how many backroom staff or my assistant coaches that left. It’s normal. Everyone has their own desires and wishes and it’s normal. Now I am still here in front of you. "

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