Pep Guardiola has extended his contract as manager of Premier League champion Manchester City for a further two seasons, saying Thursday “I could not leave now” with the club facing arguably the toughest period of his time at the Etihad Stadium.
There had been speculation the 53-year-old’s City career could be coming to an end, with the club facing an uncertain future due to an ongoing hearing over 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations -- charges it denies completely.
City is also currently on a four-game losing streak in all competitions -- the worst of Guardiola’s managerial career, excluding penalty shoot-outs -- although it is second in the Premier League, five points behind leader Liverpool.
But reports emerged on Tuesday that Guardiola, who took over at City in 2016 and has since won a total of 18 trophies across all competitions, including six Premier League titles, would stay.
This was despite City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, a close ally of Guardiola, having already confirmed his exit at the end of the campaign.
But with City on an English record-breaking run of four successive top-flight titles, Guardiola -- who led the club to a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble in 2023 -- said he had changed his mind about this being his last season at the Etihad.
“Now I cannot leave,” the Catalan boss said in an interview on the club’s website after agreeing to remain at the Etihad until 2027.
“Maybe the four defeats were the reason why I felt I cannot leave,” he added.
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Guardiola, who has repeatedly been asked about his future in recent weeks, added, “Since the beginning of the season I was thinking a lot in the moment, I will be honest, I thought (this season) should be the last one.”
“But at the same moment the situation comes, the problems we have in the last month, I felt now was not the time to leave. I don’t want to let the club down, I would say. I felt the confidence from the chairman (Khaldoon Al Mubarak) and Txiki and everyone, and I had the feeling I have to do it,” he added.
Guardiola explained while the treble represented a “dream come true” and that four Premier League titles in a row was “amazing”, he still felt he had a job to do to help City hit those heights again.
“But you have a past, (there have) been lessons and mistakes that we have overcome to arrive in the moment where you are more stable and more consistent,” he said.
“We have to recover that because right now we don’t have it and that’s the target we have to do,” he added.
The influence of Guardiola, renowned for his possession-based style of football, extends well beyond the Etihad, with two of his former assistants -- Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca -- now in charge of Premier League rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, respectively.
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