PEP: I WON’T DO A KLOPP
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he won’t walk away from English football at the end of the season like rival Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp stunned the game last week when revealing he had run out of steam and would be stepping down as Liverpool boss.
But Guardiola has no intention of doing the same thing at Manchester City and says he still has the energy to keep winning trophies.
Guardiola, who landed the Treble last season, still has 18 months of his Etihad contract to run and he could even decide to sign a new deal before the end of 2024.
The Spaniard said: “I have everything that a manager could dream of. The hierarchy support me and always have. It’s a good environment.
“One day it is going to finish, but I don’t think about that right now.
“Winning helps you to have more energy.”
Guardiola reckons he has learned to become less obsessed with football.
“Now I can stay on the sofa watching TV and don’t think about football,” he said.
“I used to think I was missing something or not being professional enough. It used to be 24/7 every day but now I don’t need 24 hours to prepare for the games.”
Guardiola, whose side host Burnley tonight, admits he will know when the time is right to leave the champions.
“I trust my feelings and instincts,” he said.
Burnley manager
Vincent Kompany, once Etihad skipper under Guardiola, has urged Manchester City to do everything possible to keep his old boss for another two decades.
“They need to keep him for another 20 years.
They need to do whatever they need to do to keep him fresh,” said Kompany. “Sir Alex Ferguson did 27 years at United and I can see someone doing that again in the Premier.
“Sometimes it’s reinventing yourself, or reinventing your staff, or your team. Pep has done that already at City.
“The process for him is very simple – ‘This is what I want the team to do. Are you able to do it? Yes or no?’”
Relegation-threatened Burnley, who have won only three Premier
League games this season, face clashes with City, Liverpool and
Arsenal in the next 18 days as they look to climb from the drop zone.
And though Kompany is looking forward to bumping into friends like in-form Kevin De Bruyne, he wants his own stars to shine. “In every other game of the season I want Kev to do well but for this game I want Josh Brownhill to do better.
“At this moment Burnley are my focus, nothing more.”