Pep Guardiola is expected to leave Manchester City when his current contract expires at the end of next season, it has been claimed.
Guardiola has just led City to a fourth Premier League title in a row in his eight seasons at the Eithad, narrowly missing out on two more trophies as the Sky Blues lost in the Champions League semi-finals to Real Madrid and in Saturday’s FA Cup final to Manchester United.
And according to The Daily Mail, the 2024/25 campaign will be Guardiola’s last at City, with the Catalan not prepared to sign another contract with last season’s treble winners.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola (Image credit: Getty Images)
Guardiola has led City to an array of silverware in his eight years in charge at the Etihad, including six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and a Champions League crown.
Despite City’s FA Cup final defeat to United on Saturday, Guardiola was content at the club’s parade on Sunday to celebrate their latest Premier League triumph.
“We are happy, it’s a big achievement, that’s why we are here again,” he said in front of thousands of fans in the centre of Manchester.
“Even myself I couldn’t expect to stay here eight years but everything goes well. Step by step we are here and it looks like a routine [these parades] but it’s not a routine.”
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Asked if he could just stay forever, the former Barcelona coach was taken aback by the question, and did not really answer it as he said: “We will be back next season. The FA Cup, we will take it.”
That brought big cheers from the fans and midfielder Phil Foden added: “It’s been a special season. Nobody has done it before. It’s an unbelievable season. It’s the hunger inside me. We’ve got great players, we want to win more next season.”
In FourFourTwo’s view, Guardiola may feel he has nothing else to achieve now at City. And like outgoing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, he is probably tired. If he can find the motivation to stay and build again, he may extend his time in Manchester, but he certainly looks more likely to leave in 2025 at this point. Whatever he does do, though, his tenure at City has been unbelievable – and he will go down as the club’s greatest-ever manager. Perhaps even the best that English football has seen.
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Ben Hayward is the Weekend Editor of FourFourTwo. A European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world – including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America – and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.
