As a footballer Josep Guardiola defended the colors of the Barça first team for eleven seasons. As coach, the one from Santpedor will spend eleven seasons sitting on the Manchester City bench. This will be the case after this Thursday he renewed for two years with the Etihad club. He landed in 2016 and his stay in the entity, barring clear dismissal, will extend at least until June 2027. More than a decade in the other club of his life. He will always be a born Barcelona fan, but in his heart there is no doubt that the British team will also have a distinguished place.
Guardiola has decided to remain in the team skyblue despite the departure of his soul mate in the entity, the sports director, Txiki Begiristain, who will leave the ship on July 13 after the Club World Cup and will be replaced by Hugo Viana. It is not the first time that they have separated their paths since Begiristain left Barça after Sandro Rosell’s electoral victory in 2010 and Guardiola worked two seasons at the Camp Nou with Andoni Zubizarreta as sports director.
The one from Santpedor has 18 titles at the Etihad; Nobody had achieved four Premier League titles in a row as a coach.
His commitment is such that he has also decided to continue despite the dispute that the team faces with the Premier over the club’s alleged irregularities regarding the fair play financial. “It is more likely that I will stay if we go down to League One (Third) than if we are in the Champions League,” Guardiola proclaimed a year ago. A possible administrative relegation still looms over the team but Pep has decided to continue making his way at City, where he has become one of the capital figures in its history, perhaps the most.
“Manchester City means a lot to me. I am very happy to renew for two seasons. I have everything a coach would want here. I have a special feeling for this club. “I hope we win many more titles,” Guardiola said.
“City means a lot to me. I am very happy to renew for two seasons. I have everything a coach would want here.”
With him at the helm, the Manchester team has won 18 titles, including 6 Premier titles and the club’s first Champions League. No other coach had managed to win four consecutive titles in the English league. It is true that the renewal comes at a particular time because City has lost four games in a row (something that had never happened to Pep as a coach and that the team had not suffered since 2006). But that does not cloud a wonderful career, seen with the wide angle (73.4% victories). Injuries to key men, like Rodri, and a good part of the defensive line have hampered City at this point in the season. But there is a lot of campaign left and Liverpool’s five-point advantage can be overcome.
Not even the departure of Begiristain, who will leave after the club World Cup, has prevented Guardiola from renewing
At 53 years old, the Catalan continues with the same passion for giving new twists to an offensive style that has marked his entire career since he took the reins of Barça B in 2007. Since then, 17 years have passed and Pep only took one season off. sabbatical, after leaving the Camp Nou, and before taking the helm of Bayern. One season in the Blaugrana reserve team, four in Barça, three in Bayern and, for now, nine in City, where he has the challenge of making decisions about players of the caliber of Bernardo Silva, Stones or Walker, who are ending their contract. in 2026. Before that there is the case of De Bruyne. At 33 years old, the Belgian, with many physical problems, is being courted by the American MLS.
On some occasions Guardiola has expressed his willingness to continue his career as a coach on the bench of a great team. In this sense he was sounded out by England before they hired the German Thomas Tuchel. Another country that drinks the winds for Pep is Brazil, currently in a crisis of results and confidence. See him with the seleçao It would be a powerful image but that will still have to wait. At least until his time at the helm of City ends. Most likely he will not be 26 years old, as was Sir Alex Ferguson’s at neighboring Manchester United, but there is no doubt that for City Guardiola is their Ferguson.
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