‘IF I’M HAPPY, I STAY’

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owners didn’t ask me. Of course, they want it – and I’m the first to want it. But it was the same with Munich and with Barcelona, where I won it twice.”

It is the freedom that Guardiola has been granted, working alongside chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain, that makes City optimistic he will eventually commit to a contract that will take him into an eighth season in Manchester and beyond.

Guardiola added: “Every year I want to win all four titles. But I didn’t feel a failure in the two years at Barcelona and the three with Bayern when we didn’t win.

“We were closer last season – and we will try again this season. But I’m aware how difficult the opponents are and how the competition is so difficult.”

But, as City kick off the defence of the title at West Ham, Guardiola knows that the pressure to be successful is just as intense in Manchester.

He said: “First, I am still here because we won – otherwise I would not be here.

“I have good professionals here who are also my friends – but my friends are not stupid. It is a business, they need results.

“So I am here because we won. But we won together and this is the reason I am here. I like my life, I like my job and I like the people I am doing it with.

“I am pretty sure I am happy here and I am going to stay. If not, it’s not because I want to move forward or move to another place. It’s because I will stop.”

There has been a significant restructuring of his squad this summer, with Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko allowed to leave to make room for Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez.

Guardiola added: “You have to take decisions – that’s why we are paid. The intention is always to get better.”