Manchester City

Pep Guardiola to begin talks on new Manchester City contract

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 20 April 2018

Pep Guardiola suggests that he will remain in charge of Manchester City beyond the end of next season if he still has the "energy and strength to keep going".

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that contract talks are planned with club chiefs for the end of the season.

The 47-year-old, a Premier League and EFL Cup winner in his second campaign at the Etihad Stadium, has a little over 12 months left to run on the three-year deal signed in 2016.

Guardiola famously left Barcelona in 2012 after four years at Camp Nou and lasted three seasons at next club Bayern Munich, with a year-long sabbatical in between, and there had been fears that he would step down as City boss when his existing terms expire.

Speaking a week on from the Citizens' impressive title triumph, though, the Catalan coach stressed that he will stay on in Manchester for as long as he has the "energy and strength" to do so.

"We are going to speak with the club at the end of the season," he told reporters. "I have one more year, so I am not finishing now. So at that time, we are going to see what they think, what we think, what is their perspective for the organisation for the future.

"It also depends on my energy and strength to keep going. Now I feel good. I feel comfortable being here. We will speak with Txiki [Begiristain], Ferran [Soriano] and Khaldoon [Al Mubarak]. We are going to decide what is best for the club, for everybody. I'm good.

"You feel the team are an amazing group of guys, the players and the staff, but you can lose that. You can drop it. I know how we are going to react, even myself after winning the Premier League.

"I don't know how the players will see me after winning, or how I will see them. Now it's okay. Everything's good. But football changes over nothing. In these next five games, we will see how we react to success. It will be a good test for all of us to see what will happen next season."

Guardiola has won a league title in seven of his nine seasons in senior management - three each with Bayern and Barca, before his most recent success with City.