Simon Stone
Monday May 20, 2024
Pep Guardiola has won 12 league titles across three countries since becoming a manager in 2008
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has raised the prospect he will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of next season.
Guardiola has created English football history by steering his City side to four successive league titles.
It takes his personal tally to six, equal with Liverpool's Bob Paisley and George Ramsay of Aston Villa, and only exceeded by Sir Alex Ferguson, who has 13.
On 25 May, City will attempt to become the first side to complete the domestic Double in successive seasons.
In total, Guardiola has won 17 trophies since arriving at City in 2016.
In 2019, City became the first side to win the Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup in the same season. Last term, they emulated Manchester United by winning the Treble, beating Inter Milan in Istanbul to win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
“Last year, after Istanbul, I said ‘it’s over, there’s nothing left’,” he said.
“But I have a contract and I start to think ‘no-one has done four in a row, why don't we try?’. And now I feel it’s done, so what next?
“Now I don't know what exactly the motivation is because it's difficult to find it when everything is done.”
Guardiola’s present contract expires at the end of next season, by which time he will have been at City for nine years.
Asked on Sky Sports about his future, Guardiola said: “The reality is I am closer to leaving than staying. We have talked with the club - my feeling is that I want to stay now. I will stay next season and during the season we will talk. But eight or nine years - we will see.”
Guardiola said he had to be told by Match of the Day presenter – and former Barcelona star – Gary Lineker about doing the Double two years in a row.
“He told me no team has done back-to-back Premier Leagues and FA Cups,” said Guardiola, who has now won 12 league titles for three clubs in 16 years as a manager.
“I want my players to enjoy two or three days and then prepare for the final. Why should we not work as much as possible to do what we have to do?”