With the future of their greatest ever manager currently still unclear, Manchester City have apparently started planning for life after Pep Guardiola and even placed a deadline for him to decide on his future.
With Guardiola’s contract set to expire at the end of the 2024/25 season, chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak has been trying his level best over the summer to convince him into extending his deal, but Guardiola is still decided on what he is going to do.
At the end of 2023/24, after winning the Premier League for an unprecedented fourth-successive campaign, Guardiola admitted that he was “closer to leaving than to staying”.
Sky Sports reports that Manchester City have already begun succession planning, drawing up a list of potential replacements should the 53-year-old ultimately decide to call time on his career at the club sooner than expected.
The Spaniard replaced Manuel Pellegrini as the manager in 2016 and has, in the eight full seasons since, truly done the Club proud, winning 6 Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups and multiple other trophies and accolades.
53-year-old Guardiola has spent considerably longer time at Manchester City than at the previous two clubs he has worked at before, having managed Barcelona for four seasons between 2008 and 2012, before spending just three campaigns in charge of Bayern Munich.
Guardiola is now into his ninth season as Manchester City manager, having signed three contract extensions, albeit with the two most recent deals only adding an extra two years each time.
The board is of course cognizant of the fact that he can’t continue forever, which is why the wheels are starting to be put into motion should he opt against another contract renewal. The report adds they want a decision made by Christmas, which does put the pressure on him further.
From the look of things, while they’ve put a Christmas deadline on him, if Guardiola says that he would like to stay on in April, it seems highly improbable they wouldn’t grant him that wish.