Pep Guardiola has committed himself to the deal that will keep the renowned Spaniard at the Etihad Stadium until the end of the 2024/25 season after he agreed to a two-year contract extension at Manchester City, keeping him at the Premier League champions until 2025.
The celebrated former Barcelona head coach’s contract was due to expire at the end of the 2022/23 season, but his latest renewal will mean he would have spent at least nine seasons at the Manchester club when his contract ends – five more than he spent at Barcelona and six more than at Bayern Munich.
According to The Athletic, the new deal is basically an initial one-year deal, with both Guardiola and Manchester City having the option to extend for a further season. This of course also means that either party could opt to go their separate ways in 2024 if they so wish. The belief is that Guardiola will also be involved strategically in transfer targets and contract decisions regarding his players as part of the deal.
Guardiola threw in his lot with Man City ahead of the 2016/17 season as a replacement for Manuel Pellegrini in the dugout. To date the manager widely regarded by both his peers and players as arguably the best in the business has since won four Premier League titles at the Etihad club, including amassing a staggering 100 points in the 2017/18 season.
The 51-year-old maestro has also led the side to an FA Cup win in 2019 besides winning the four League Cup titles, but the Holy Grail that has eluded him so far at City is the Champions League trophy. The closest the Spaniard has brought the Cityzens in their history was the loss in the final of the competition in 2021 to Chelsea. Well, of course the grand new hope now is that with the arrival of Erling Haaland, the trophy could now likely be added to the club’s list of accomplishments under the world-renowned manager.
Man City currently sits second in the Premier League table, five points behind leaders Arsenal. They will also be facing RB Leipzig in the last-16 of the Champions League in the new year.
With domestic football brought to a halt due to the Qatar World Cup 2922, Guardiola jetted out to the Middle East to watch the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. Of course it would not be pushing the imagination at all to assume that he would most likely be catching up with Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-based owner, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, to discuss future plans while there.