‘Difficult to find the motivation’ – Guardiola casts doubt on new deal

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested he might leave the club when his contract expires at the end of next season.

Guardiola has made English football history by leading City to four consecutive league titles.

This achievement brings his personal tally to six, matching the records of Liverpool’s Bob Paisley and Aston Villa’s George Ramsay, and only surpassed by Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 titles.

On May 25, City will aim to become the first team to achieve the domestic Double in consecutive seasons.

Since joining City in 2016, Guardiola has won a total of 17 trophies.

In 2019, City became the first team to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and EFL Cup in a single season. Last season, they matched Manchester United’s Treble by winning the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history, defeating Inter Milan in Istanbul.

“Last year, after Istanbul, I said ‘it’s over, there’s nothing left’,” he said.

“But I have a contract and I start to think ‘no-one has done four in a row, why don’t we try?’. And now I feel it’s done, so what next?

“Now I don’t know what exactly the motivation is because it’s difficult to find it when everything is done.”

Guardiola’s present contract expires at the end of next season, by which time he will have been at City for nine years.

Asked on Sky Sports about his future, Guardiola said: “The reality is I am closer to leaving than staying. We have talked with the club – my feeling is that I want to stay now. I will stay next season and during the season we will talk. But eight or nine years – we will see.”

Guardiola said he had to be told by Match of the Day presenter – and former Barcelona star – Gary Lineker about doing the Double two years in a row.

“He told me no team has done back-to-back Premier Leagues and FA Cups,” said Guardiola, who has now won 12 league titles for three clubs in 16 years as a manager.

“I want my players to enjoy two or three days and then prepare for the final. Why should we not work as much as possible to do what we have to do?”