Kevin De Bruyne urges Pep Guardiola to stay and lead Manchester City into glittering new era
Spanish boss, who has guided Cityzens to the title, only has one year remaining on his Etihad deal
KEVIN DE BRUYNE has urged Pep Guardiola to stay and lead a glittering era at Manchester City.
The Etihad chief - whose team were crowned Premier League champions on Sunday - has just one year left on his deal.
City are confident he will stay on with talks over an extension due to start in the summer.
Sources close to Pep say he is undecided over how long he will stay - but KdB is hoping this is just the start.
He said: “What we want to do now is continue playing the way we have this season and become even stronger.
“The manager is a big part of that and hopefully these can be his first trophies of many here at City. Everyone knows he’s one of the best coaches in the world.
“To achieve what he has achieved in the game is special and to be part of a group of players led by him can only help us to keep developing. He came in two years ago and changed the way we play.
“That obviously takes time to adapt to but we’ve developed together and this season is a reward for all that work.”
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Guardiola has refused to answer any questions about his future in recent months - while City’s hierarchy have always planned talks during this close season.
The indications are that him and his family are settled in Manchester - and will be around for at least a couple more years.
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But until the new contract is signed, City fans will worry he could be clearing his desk this time next year.
His biographer Marti Pernarau - author of Pep Confidential - expects him to stay around for a while yet.
The writer told 93:20 Podcast that Guardiola will want to turn City into one of the heavyweights of European football before he leaves.
He said: “In private, he’s very happy - much more than he is in public. Two trophies is a very good season for Pep. But he will want to win more trophies next season.
“My personal opinion is that Pep wiill stay more than one more season. It’s just an opinion.
“It’s impossible to talk with him on this matter but I think he’ll talk with the club in the summer.
“But my feeling is that he’s happy, he’ll win two trophies this season - he’ll want more success in the Premier League next year.
“But he will want Manchester City to be a European giant like Barcelona, Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich- and I think it’s for that he will continue more than one more year. That will be the main focus in his mind. “
Meanwhile City’s players are set to share a bonus jackpot of around £10 million after their double winning season.
Many of the players have incentives built into their contracts for winning silverware and they will be rewarded for lifting the Premier League and Carabao Cup.
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