UNIQUE SELLING PEP
City will hope they can talk Guardiola out of quitting so they can keep signing stars
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 they continue to be a club 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.
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 strike star, 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. 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 vicepresident Ferran Soriano was appointed City’s chief executive. The following month, Txiki Begiristain (below), instrumental in unleashing Guardiola as Barca, became City’s director of football.
Their presence paved the way for Guardiola – and established a £200million state-of-the-art campus that has become his 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. The Champions League eludes him.
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 citycentre restaurant offering Catalan delicacies.
Guardiola, 50, 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 arguably still has his best years ahead of him.
Having cemented City as the best team in Manchester, Guardiola must now decide if his job there is done.