Fractious, irritable, and picking fights when none are wanted ... Guardio la looks like a man who needs a break

STORIES ran in two national newspapers on Friday morning that stated there was a break clause in Pep Guardiola’s contract at Manchester City that allowed him to leave the club at the end of this season.

The stories were not challenged by the club. When they were put to Guardiola later that day, though, he was succinct in his reply. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s not true.’

Guardiola’s denial was interesting and not just because other sources also attest to the existence of the break clause. For the past few years, City have been galvanised by Guardiola’s singularity of purpose and the intensity and beauty he has brought to their football. In the past few months, that has changed. City are now a club gripped by uncertainty and Guardiola is at the core of it.

It is not just that the champions will go into today’s Premier League clash with Arsenal at the Emirates languishing behind Liverpool at the top of the table. The loss of certainty runs deeper than that.

The fretfulness that Guardiola has been exhibiting on the touchline is symptomatic of a wider malaise that appears to have affected him and spread to some of those around him.

Guardiola is a singular man and no one at City seems quite sure what his intentions are any more. Whether he is burned out and wants to leave, possibly even before the end of this season. Or whether he would actually like to sign another new contract that would extend his time at the club beyond the end of next season.

His body language is redolent of a manager who needs a break. Fractious, irritable, seeing slights where none are intended, picking fights where none are wanted, issuing denials where none are needed, he is starting to look like the same man who worked himself into the ground at Barcelona until he was so worn down that he had to take a sabbatical to recharge.

After bringing City so much success and elevating the level of football in the Premier League to heights we have not scaled before in this country, suddenly there is a fin de siècle feeling swirling around Guardiola and his tenure at the Etihad.

Even if he does sign another new deal, it may not be enough to reassure the City hierarchy that he will be in England for much longer.

In those circumstances, it is hardly surprising that City are drawing up contingency plans and t hat it i s being reported t hat Mauricio Pochettino’s name is at the top of the page. As well as being a highly-respected coach, Pochettino also has the advantage of being a free agent. If Guardiola goes, consolation prizes don’t come much better than the former manager of Tottenham.

I hope he doesn’t go. I hope the impression that he is heading for the exit is mistaken. You can have an issue with the ownership of the club, you can object to the amount of money City have spent, but you can’t argue about the joy Guardiola has brought to our game with the brand of football City have played under his leadership.

It has been a privilege to watch City these past three and a half years. It has been a privilege to watch the courage and the confidence with which they pass the ball under pressure. It has been a privilege to watch the movement of Guardiola’s players and their appreciation of space.

It has been a joy, too, to see their unity of purpose and their determination to play for each other. The team is king but individuals still thrive: David Silva has a claim to be the best foreign player ever to grace this league. In time, Kevin de Bruyne may enter that conversation, too.

A few still mock the idea that Guardiola has changed English football but they are in a minority. And they are wrong. Sure, there have been great teams in the past. There have been great passing teams, too. But there has never been a manager in our game who refused to compromise his principles the way Guardiola has. He is to be cherished for that.

On one level, Guardiola took the idea of the sweeper- keeper and evolved it. Manuel Neuer was once the model of the footballing goalkeeper but Guardiola took things a stage further. He took Ederson and made him another outfield player. He made it even harder for teams to press City.

He turned City into the Roger Federer of English football; the epitome of grace under pressure. He has made players better. Even players such as Sergio Aguero, who was outstanding already. He has turned Raheem Sterling into a world-class footballer. Sterling’s work ethic and his talent have helped, too, obviously. But Guardiola’s relentless, merciless search for improvement is what has driven City’s success.

He and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp are the greatest managerial talents of their generation and the fact that Klopp signed a new deal on Friday that could keep him at Anfield until 2024 only increases the hope that Guardiola will somehow get his mojo back and stick around in the Premier League.

His rivalry with the German has been this generation’s Ferguson v Wenger. It would be a shame to end it prematurely.