Is Pep Guardiola on the point of depart Man Metropolis? Solely he is aware of

If Pep Guardiola is aware of he is leaving Manchester Metropolis on the finish of the season, he isn’t telling.

Excessive-level sources on the Etihad Stadium are properly conscious of the extreme hypothesis that we may now be within the Guardiola end-game and that the 55-year-old is contemplating — if not but absolutely dedicated to — ending his time as supervisor in the summertime. However even they insist they do not know for positive.

Sources near SEG, the company which works with Guardiola’s representatives — led by his brother, Pere — say that something to do with the Catalan coach’s future is closely protected and that that is no completely different. There may be, although, a whirl of hearsay — largely generated by chatter between rival executives, brokers and gamers — that he is near calling time.

Guardiola nonetheless has 16 months left to run on the contract he signed in November 2024. Nevertheless it has already reached the stage the place it could shock no one at Metropolis if he determined to finish the settlement a 12 months early in the summertime of 2026.

The contract state of affairs

There have been few issues during the last nine-and-a-half years which have irritated Guardiola greater than questions on his future. As somebody who’s obsessive about the method behind profitable soccer matches, he views any sort of exterior noise as a possible distraction.

Usually Guardiola has tried to see it off early, signing extensions by November of his remaining 12 months to make sure the second half of the season is not overshadowed by uncertainty. However when he signed his newest deal in November 2024, there was shock at Metropolis that it was for 2 years quite than one.

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There was a sense on the time that Guardiola would possibly signal a 12-month extension to take him to the summer time of 2026 and spherical off 10 years on the membership. That it ended up being a contract till 2027 caught a couple of folks on the Etihad off guard; it additionally raised the query about whether or not the additional 12 months was a buffer meant to supply at the very least the sense of certainty.

Requested about his future in early January, Guardiola was capable of cover behind it.

“I’ve a contract,” he mentioned. “I mentioned a thousand million occasions. It is 10 years right here. I’ll depart someday, however I’ve a contract.”

He did the identical once more when requested an analogous query at his information convention on Friday.

“I’ve yet one more 12 months on my contract,” he mentioned. “The query of that’s [the same as] one or two months in the past, however I’ll let you know once more that it’s the identical reply.”

A change in temper

Whereas there has all the time been a sense that Guardiola may give up in the summertime of 2026 — 10 years on from his arrival from Bayern Munich in 2016 — it has been strengthened by an obvious change in temper over the previous few weeks.

It began after the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg at Newcastle when an Antoine Semenyo objective dominated out by VAR despatched Guardiola right into a tailspin on the state of refereeing. He by no means likes to criticise officers after attracts or defeats, however following the 2-0 win at St James’ Park, he felt comfy highlighting perceived errors within the league defeat at Newcastle six weeks earlier — not solely that, but additionally the choice to not present a pink card to goalkeeper Dean Henderson throughout the FA Cup remaining defeat to Crystal Palace all the way in which again in Might.

Guardiola had one other pop at referees after the 2-0 win over Wolves and forward of the second leg in opposition to Newcastle he — largely unprompted — determined to talk out on a variety of matters together with the switch spending of Premier League rivals, Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.

He is additionally began saying issues like “good quote, eh?” when he is aware of he is made a headline, in addition to addressing reporters by identify and unexpectedly taking additional questions on the finish of reports conferences when Metropolis’s media employees are attempting to wrap it up. If he is acutely aware that he would possibly solely have this platform for a couple of extra months, then he is profiting from it.

Guardiola’s conflict of refs is similar with the way in which Sir Alex Ferguson reacted to Nani’s pink card in opposition to Actual Madrid in 2013, which contributed to Manchester United’s exit from the Champions League. Ferguson was mentioned to be “distraught” after the sport and even refused to do his post-match information convention. It grew to become obvious afterwards that he was so upset as a result of he had already determined to depart Previous Trafford on the finish of the season and that he had been denied a final probability to win the Champions League by what he believed was a refereeing mistake.

Regardless of approaching 20 years as a supervisor and a decade at Metropolis, Guardiola has not misplaced the love of profitable. His celebrations on the touchline on Wednesday, as Metropolis booked their place in a fifth Carabao Cup remaining of his reign, appeared like these of a rookie supervisor chasing his first piece of silverware.

“I am getting outdated and I’ve the sensation that reaching finals is harder,” he mentioned. “I do not need to take it without any consideration and I understand how tough it’s.

“I will stay with the enjoyment that we’re going to play one other remaining as a result of it is so tough in fashionable sport and competitors — tennis, golf, basketball — to achieve finals and win trophies. You must sweat quite a bit.”

Metropolis’s ahead planning

Metropolis have all the time been relaxed about Guardiola’s future. Fairly clearly, they need their most profitable ever supervisor to remain for so long as doable, however they all the time knew he wasn’t the kind to observe Ferguson or Arsene Wenger and do 20-plus years.

They’ve typically discovered consolation within the power of their relationship with Guardiola. It has meant that membership executives are assured that, each time the day comes, he’ll give them sufficient time to correctly recruit a successor.

It was noteworthy that throughout the collapse in relations between Enzo Maresca and Chelsea in December and January that Chelsea sources had been joyful to drop in that Maresca — a former member of Guardiola’s backroom employees — had been speaking to Metropolis. The claims from Stamford Bridge had been famous by Metropolis, however — crucially — not formally denied.

Normally, uncertainty over the supervisor would trigger issues for a membership within the switch market, as one of many first issues a participant will need to know is who shall be in cost. However these questions did not forestall Metropolis from signing Semenyo and Marc Guéhi in January and the membership had been eager to share it. The view internally was that two high Premier League gamers on the peak of their careers had chosen to maneuver to the Etihad within the face of curiosity from nearly each different huge membership in Europe regardless of the potential for Guardiola leaving.

Working with Guardiola has typically been the massive attraction for brand spanking new signings, and it was a noticeable change in message.

So … is it taking place?

Metropolis know it is coming sooner quite than later. Membership bosses pleasure themselves on having a plan for every part and there is identical feeling this time.

If Guardiola calls time on the finish of the season, Metropolis imagine they will be ready. They’ve handled the lack of director of soccer Txiki Begiristain, COO Omar Berrada and director of soccer transactions Rafi Moersen within the latest previous, in addition to a bunch of key gamers.

Shifting on from Guardiola shall be a lot more durable, however in keeping with well-placed sources, it will not be unattainable. That, although, stays to be seen: in spite of everything, Manchester United are nonetheless reeling from the lack of their very own iconic supervisor 13 years in the past.

Metropolis are extra comfy with the timing of a possible departure this summer time versus 12 months in the past. The view was that attempting to put in a brand new supervisor in a summer time which was already difficult by the FIFA Membership World Cup would have been an excessive amount of.

Guardiola has mentioned previously that he isn’t an awesome deliberator. He makes choices rapidly on intuition and feeling, and it is doable that he may but be swayed by outcomes between now and the top of the season — good or unhealthy.

For now, although, he is conserving quiet. Nevertheless it means the swirl of hypothesis will proceed till that modifications.