YEAR OF THE PEP
City chiefs must talk Guardiola into STAYING... without his USP signing big stars like Haaland will get tougher
PEP GUARDIOLA was Manchester City’s unique selling point even BEFORE he set foot inside the Etihad.
Over the next 12 months, the Premier League champions will be trying to secure their manager’s future service – to ensure that they continue to be a club that the world’s top players want to join.
Guardiola’s contract expires in the summer of 2023 – and potential signings will want to know whether or not they will be working with one of the most charismatic coaches in the game beyond the end of next season.
City were able to persuade Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling to play under Manuel Pellegrini for a year, because the planned arrival of Guardiola in 2016 was one of the worst-kept secrets in football.
Since then, world-class talent has moved to east Manchester in a torrent.
Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez, Kyle Walker, Ederson, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and others have joined City because it was Guardiola who wanted them.
It was the Pep Factor that prompted Jack Grealish to break Aston Villa hearts last summer.
That’s why the question of
Guardiola’s future will become so compelling during 2022.
City will be trying to land Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland next summer – battling every top club in Europe.
With super-agent Mino Raiola representing the Norwegian ace, hard cash will be near the very top of the agenda.
But so will the issue of who will be in charge at the Etihad over the next few seasons.
Haaland will want to know about his chances of picking up medals as well as bags of money.
Guardiola is into his sixth season at City. It is an illustration of how settled he is in Manchester that he has spent more time there than at either Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
The ground was being prepared for his arrival even back when Sergio Aguero was scoring the most famous goal in Premier League history in 2012.
By September of that year, former Barcelona vice-president Ferran Soriano was appointed City’s chief executive.
The following month, Txiki Begiristain, instrumental in unleashing Guardiola as Barca coach four years earlier, became City’s director of football.
Their presence in Manchester paved the way for Guardiola – and established a £200million state-of-the-art campus that has become the Catalan’s laboratory.
City have won three of the last four Premier League titles. Guardiola has also won the last four Carabao Cups and the FA Cup. Winning the Champions League away from the Nou Camp still eludes him after last season’s defeat in the final.
And while that remains an itch that needs scratching, Guardiola continues to insist that the bread-and-butter of the Premier League tastes sweeter to him than the caviar of European success.
Guardiola said:
“The Champions
League is a cup competition.
Of course, it is a huge achievement to win it, but it only takes one bad day and you’re out.
“Winning the league is the measure of your team, especially the Premier League. To do it, you must fight for 38 games, against incredible teams and managers, against the schedule, playing at Christmas, against the weather.”
Guardiola hasn’t just invested his time in Manchester, but also his money. Three years ago, with Soriano and Begiristain, he opened an upmarket city-centre restaurant specialising in Catalan delicacies.
Guardiola has made it clear he doesn’t envisage spending time on the touchline when he’s an old man. But at the age of 50, he still has his best years as a manager ahead.
Only Wilf Wild, Les McDowall, Ernest Magnall and Joe Mercer have managed City for more games. Having cemented them as the best team in Manchester, Guardiola must soon decide if his job there is done.
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