City bosses confident Pep will build a real dynasty
MANCHESTER City will discuss a new contract with Pep Guardiola at the end of the season, and there is now a quiet confidence at the top levels of the club that he will sign one, amid hopes of the Catalan building a proper dynasty at the club.
The 46-year-old’s current deal runs until 2019 and even though he has been commonly seen as working in three-year cycles, having started this job in 2016, officials at the Etihad naturally want him to stay beyond that and also think he is being persuaded by the development of the project at City.
The Premier League leaders swatted Tottenham Hotspur aside on Saturday night to stretch their unbeaten streak to 18 games, courtesy of goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling (2) ahead of Christian Eriksen pulling one back for the Londoners in injury-time.
City will naturally have a review of their manager’s status at the end of the season and while there is an acknowledgement that they haven’t yet won anything, they have been hugely impressed with Guardiola’s “thorough” and hugely imaginative work beyond just results and the style the record-breaking 16-game winning streak has been achieved.
The Etihad hierarchy have been struck by how the Catalan has so improved young players like John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane but — even more notably — players between the 28 and 32 age bracket like Nicolas Otamendi, Fernandinho and Fabian Delph.
It is also felt that the lessons of last season — particularly for Guardiola himself — have been key to why this campaign has so far gone so well. The Catalan is said to have been hugely frustrated through 2015-16 and often quite “low”. While he never doubted himself, there was a private admission he may have underestimated the competitiveness of the Premier League and how gruelling the schedule can be, as he faced a situation he never had before. Guardiola duly adjusted, though, and it made him even more determined.
One example of that now often cited at City is his work with Stones and Sane, and the depth of the individual coaching and details such players receive. Stones did doubt whether he could play exactly the way Guardiola wanted, and even expressed that to the manager, but the Catalan was insistent he keep doing it — and only ever play any passes from the back along the ground — amid some of the mistakes and poor results of this time last year.
That explained why Guardiola praised Stones’ “balls” at the time — in a more colloquial sense — as he instructed the centre-half to never, ever hit a long ball. The movement of the team now is attributed to that approach and faith, as well as his decisiveness. Tied to that play from the back, Guardiola was adamant straight away that Joe Hart just wouldn’t work in his side. Some at City have also admitted to doubts about Sane at this time last year, as he wasn’t quite clicking, but Guardiola was insistent he would find form.
There is even a view at City that last season’s relative failure may have ended up the best possible situation for the side, because of the growth it has directly contributed to, and the reaction it brought in the manager.
Guardiola actually had designs on converting Delph into a left-back last season, but found that the schedule never allowed him the time. It was also why so much of the 2017 pre-season work was spent on building play from the back.
The relative youth and development of the team also gives City confidence they can build a proper Sir Alex Ferguson-style dynasty under a similarly “special” and “unique” manager in Guardiola, even if there is an acceptance that a reign as long as the Scottish legend’s is almost impossible in the modern game.
Guardiola did himself need a sabbatical earlier in his career after four years at Barcelona and that has been put forward as another reason why he may not stay at City that long, but that is not seen as an issue by the Etihad hierarchy.
With figures like CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain having worked at Camp Nou, they know that is a unique situation and that the distinctive politics of the club are like an “oven” that just burn managers out. By contrast, City are conscious of giving the “artist” in Guardiola the space to work, and that it is thereby a totally different circumstance.
They want him to stay at the club as long as possible, but have been conscious of the longer term. One hope is to develop coaches from within the club, too. The progress of New York City FC manager Patrick Vieira is being closely watched within the group, as he is seen as a potential successor.