Chairman hopes to work with Pep for ‘years to come’

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is hopeful manager Pep Guardiola will stay at the club “for years to come”.

Guardiola, who has guided City to back-toback Premier League titles, including a domestic treble last season, is contracted at the Etihad Stadium until 2021.

There has been speculation the Spaniard, who took over at City in 2016, could cut short his stay at the end of the current campaign. The 48-year-old previously managed Barcelona for four seasons and Bayern Munich for three.

Guardiola, however, said last week he would like to “stay longer” and the club seem happy to keep him.

Al Mubarak told Sky Sports: “Pep has been an incredible asset to this organisation. We can speak about his managerial accomplishments for hours but I think as a person, as an individual, as a friend, he’s been a core part of what we’ve accomplished here over the last three years.

“He’s very committed, we’re committed to him. You’ve seen his interview a couple of days ago.

“We have a great relationship, we have a great environment here. The people around him, the team we have in place today, the relationships I have with them, this is really an environment that’s conducive to success for both him and everyone involved in this organisation.

“So I’m very satisfied with his commitment and our commitment to him and I’m looking forward to the continuity of this for years to come.”

City, who booked their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the seventh staright season on Tuesday, trail Premier League Liverpool by nine points after 13 games.

It was announced yesterday that City are now part of one of the world’s most valuable football companies after a £389 million investment from American firm Silver Lake.

The City Football Group, owner of the Premier League champions, announced that the technology firm had acquired a 10% stake in its business, taking its total value to £3.73 billion.

That takes the CFG value above that of Real Madrid (£3.29bn), Barcelona (£3.1bn) and Manchester United (£2.95bn) in figures published by Forbes in May.

Across all sports, only the Dallas Cowboys had a greater value at that point, of £3.88bn, with the New York Yankees worth £3.57bn.

The CFG value, however, represents the worth of all the group’s assets, rather than just City.

The holding company has stakes in six other clubs worldwide in New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F Marinos, Girona, Atletico Torque (Uruguay) and Sichuan Jiuniu (China).

Pep Guardiola: Said he would like to “stay longer”.