Pep Guardiola reveals he would have taken another sabbatical and break from football if he left Man City next summer
PEP GUARDIOLA has revealed he would have taken another sabbatical this summer if he had decided to leave Manchester City.
The 49-year-old signed a new two year deal at the Etihad this week after talks with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak.
But the decision came after weeks of speculation over his future as his contract with City ticked down.
His former club Barcelona have been linked with him – while Juventus and Paris Saint Germain have also sounded him out about taking over there.
However Pep said he would have taken a year out – just as he did when he left Barcelona in 2012 – had he not decided to carry on with his current club.
Guardiola said: “I wanted to stay. The decision is not just mine, it’s the club as well but just in case we felt we’d all had enough, I’d have taken a break.
“I said when I signed we feel like we have many things still to do together.
“With the squad we felt comfortable all together and we try to continue what we have done in the previous seasons.”
While City fans are thankful that they could have one of the world’s top bosses for seven years, Guardiola believes he is the lucky one.
He added: “I spoke a lot with the chief exec, the director of football Txiki and the chairman Khaldoon and we analysed what to do.
“Now we say a big thank you. I’m so grateful to be able to extend here.
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“The club is the reason why I’m still here. They gave me a lot in the four seasons and we want to continue trying to do our best.
“The club have shown me during this period how good they are in many things.
“And after the conversation with Khaldoon it made a difference and we decided together to continue two more years.”
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