Pep Guardiola Reveals His Plans After Leaving Manchester City

‎Pep Guardiola, 54, extended his contract with Manchester City in November for two years, keeping him at the club until June 2027.

‎He has expressed that he plans to take a break from football after leaving City but isn’t sure if he will retire completely. His long tenure at the club will then reach 11 years since he first arrived.

‎It is by far the longest coaching spell of his career he spent four years at Barcelona, for whom he also played, and three in charge of Bayern Munich.

‎The Catalan coach has overseen a remarkable era of success for City, guiding them to six Premier League titles and securing their first Champions League trophy as part of a treble in 2022/23.

‎However, this season has proven to be challenging for the team.

‎”After my contract with City, I’m going to stop. I’m sure,” Guardiola told ESPN.

‎”I don’t know if I’m going to retire, but I’m going to take a break. How I want to be remembered, I don’t know.

‎”All coaches want to win so we can have a memorable job, but I believe that the fans of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City had fun watching my teams play. I don’t think we should ever live thinking about whether we’re going to be remembered.

‎”When we die, our families cry for two or three days, and then that’s it. You’re forgotten. In the careers of coaches, there are good and bad ones, the important thing is that the good ones are remembered for longer.”

‎City, in fourth place and facing Wolves on Friday, were favorites to win their fifth straight Premier League title this season.

‎However, they have experienced a noticeable decline in form. With four matches left, they are 21 points behind Liverpool and are fighting to qualify for the Champions League next year.

‎Guardiola, whose team is through to a third successive FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, said it had been a season of “great learning,” and he had not expected City’s decline to be so steep.

‎”I knew there would be a moment when we would fall, but we fell a lot,” he said. “We didn’t expect to be so far, but we can’t win them all.

‎”What we did during 10, nine years was exceptional, but now we have to sit down and learn to try to understand what we need to produce in the future.”

‎In December, Guardiola stated that he would not coach another club after leaving City, but he left the door open to the idea of becoming a national team manager.