FC Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola effectively said he’ll not manage the club of his life again in … [+] the future, in comments captures by COPE’s Victor Navarro.
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FC Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola effectively said he’ll not manage the club of his life again in the future, in comments made from a Legends Trophy press event captured by COPE’s Victor Navarro and shared on social media.
Guardiola joined Barca’s famed La Masia academy as a youngster and then lived every Culer’s dream.
This was done by not only becoming an integral part of Johan Cruyff’s aplty-named “Dream Team” in the early 90s as a pivot, but also coaching Barca in the late 00s and overseeing an unprecedented sextuple while getting the best out of mercurial talents such as Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, and Andres Iniesta.
Guardiola left Barca in 2012 burnt out by the pressure of one of football’s most demanding roles.
After a stint at Bayern Munich between, he has managed Manchester City since 2016 and led it to a treble the season before last which also contained the Abu Dhabi-backed outfit’s maiden Champions League crown.
As a proud Catalan with such a strong history there, Guardiola will always be linked with a potential return to Barca but appeared to communicate that this won’t happen on Monday.
Guardiola was asked if the door is closed to coaching Barca in the future and stated: “Yes, it is closed.”
This is quite a contrast to when Guardiola said in 2023 that he would not hesitate if Barca approached him to man the dugout once more.
“If I am coaching here, or wherever, as a second coach, and Barcelona called me, I will go to Barcelona. It’s my club,” were his exact words.
Speaking of phone calls, Guardiola also said this week that Barca has not contacted City about his midfielder Bernardo Silva.
“Barca has never called. There has been a lot of talk for years but no one has called us,” Guardiola said.
“I hope he stays. He is a fundamental player for us, a gem of a player, [and] as a person [too].
“If you want a player you have to call him, and it hasn’t happened,” Guardiola reiterated.
Silva is said to have a £50 million release clause in his contract, but Barca might struggle to raise such funds given its current economic predicament.
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