Guardiola set to sign new deal...
PEP GUARDIOLA is ready to sign a one-year contract extension at Manchester City after clinching the Premier League title. Guardiola is close to agreeing a deal which will take his stay at the Etihad Stadium to 2020 — and would match his four-year stint in charge of Barcelona. Guardiola has long since been open to extending his £15million-a-year contract but did not want to enter talks until he had made a significant mark at the club. The Premier League was his
second piece of major silverware and the 47-year- old’s stock has never been higher after also lifting the Carabao Cup.
His all-conquering squad are expected to pocket up to £10million in bonuses after being crowned champions. Some of City’s biggest hitters, such as central midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, are due £500,000 following confirmation of their title win. Bonuses for winning the Carabao Cup are considerably smaller.
City are committed to healthy remunerations after Guardiola’s squad ran away with the league and now have eyes on Chelsea’s record points total of 95 set under Jose Mourinho. Bonuses are generally agreed individually with each player and written into their contracts.
The news of Guardiola’s intention to stay will only add to the buoyancy at City. The Catalan signed a three-year deal when he arrived in 2016 and is enjoying Manchester with his wife, Cristina, and three children — Valentina, Maria and Marius — who have settled in England and mastered the language.
Sheik Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak are delighted with the progress made under Guardiola as City hunt down the highest number of goals scored in a Premier League season. They are 10 behind the 103 scored by Chelsea in 2009-10 with five games to play.
Mansour celebrated the third title of his nine-year ownership alongside family members yesterday and spent time with his manager while City were over in Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp last month.
Sportsmail understands that Guardiola relaxed a midnight curfew during that trip to Abu Dhabi. The five- day stay was largely used as a team-bonding exercise, with players thought to have been allowed out until 2am.
Five of City’s squad — Vincent Kompany, Fabian Delph, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva — spent the hours after the title win partying with fans in Hale. They will lift the trophy at the Etihad after the match against Huddersfield on May 6, with a bus parade also planned.
Walker and Stones hit the golf course yesterday, with the latter wearing a bunny costume. Guardiola and his son, Marius, took part in what was described as a ‘friendly four-ball’ with Tommy Fleetwood at Sandiway Golf Club in Cheshire on Sunday.
Guardiola hopes to bring in players this summer and is set to land Under 18 midfielder Adria Bernabe from Barcelona, who are furious at the prospect of losing another young talent to the Premier League. City are also keen on Vasco da Gama’s Paulinho, a 17-year-old who broke into their first team last year.