Pep Guardiola adamant he won’t discuss new deal as Man City fret over boss’ long-term future
PEP GUARDIOLA says talks over his Manchester City future can wait.
But the Spanish boss admits club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is not happy with him over their title defence.
Guardiola has just one year left on his current deal and there are
hopes he might extend his stay now their Champions League ban has been lifted.
But the former Bayern Munich manager admits he will have to do better next season after his team meekly surrendered their Premier League crown to Liverpool.
He said: “Now is not the time — we have one incredible month ahead of us, then one year is a long time. We have time to think about that.
“Internally, when I don’t like something, I say to my chairman. My chairman is not happy with me if we finish 21 or 23 points behind Liverpool.
“He’s not happy with me, but we discuss internally to try and do better next season.”
I love this club. I love it because I know the people here and I’m working for a long time
Pep Guardiola
Guardiola, 49, has already spent four years at City and was in bullish mood as he defended the club over allegations of financial wrong-doing.
A huge weight has lifted off the shoulders of Al Mubarak and everyone at City now the Court of Arbitration has cleared them — but Guardiola says he would have seen out his contract anyway.
He added: “I love this club. I love it because I know the people here and I’m working for a long time.
We have our history. I don’t know if it’s better or worse, it doesn’t matter, it’s our history.
“Nothing has changed my opinion, maybe I will be able to stay here longer?
“I said I would stay and it didn’t matter if we were in the Champions League. Some people suggested we should play in League Two, I’d have stayed.”
Guardiola claims whenever he goes, he will be leaving behind a first-class opportunity for his successor.
Most read in Football
He said: “This club is incredibly solid with Pep and without Pep. So don’t be troubled.
“This club had success before my arrival with Roberto Mancini and with Manuel Pellegrini. They won a lot of titles and they played really good football.
“So without me, when I leave — I don’t know when that will be — the new manager will have an incredible thing because the structure of the club means it wants to grow and to be solid.”