The formal announcement that Pep Guardiola has signed a new contract at Manchester City came as no surprise on Thursday night; it had been widely reported by credible journalists in the days prior that the Spaniard had agreed to stay on at the Etihad Stadium.
Prior to his stint at City, Guardiola had developed a reputation as a manager who did not really do lengthy managerial stays. Granted, the sample size which that reputation came from was small — Guardiola had only managed two clubs before taking over at City — but it was certainly not expected that the Catalan would still be around in East Manchester a decade on from rocking up in 2016.
Guardiola’s new deal ensures that, barring anything dramatic happening, he will pass the 10-year mark at City. Something dramatic could happen next year, depending on the outcome of City’s much-publicized legal battle with the Premier League, but there is reported to be no break clause in the contract which would allow Guardiola to walk away in the event that the club is found guilty of serious financial breaches and hit with significant sanctions.
In true club-statement style, the quotes from Guardiola which accompanied City’s contract announcement were bland: City means so much to him, it’s an honor to be at City, he has a really special feeling about the club, he has everything a manager could ever wish for, yadda yadda yadda.
One would assume it was a given that Guardiola wants to win more trophies and he confirmed exactly that, saying: “Hopefully now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Bland comments or not, the reality is that Liverpool will find it harder to win trophies over the next two seasons than it would have done had the 53-year-old decided to call time on his spell at City at the end of this campaign.
If reports are to be believed, the England job was very much an option for Guardiola before Thomas Tuchel was appointed, and clearly the Spaniard felt he had unfinished business at club level.
What exactly that unfinished business could be is not clear; Guardiola has won everything there is to win with City. Perhaps he has Carlo Ancelotti’s record of hoisting the European Cup five times in his sights, or perhaps the motivation is to just maintain his and City’s reputation as a relentless Premier League-winning machine.
Arne Slot will be well aware that the Guardiola news will likely give City’s players a shot in the arm after a run of four successive defeats prior to the international break, and the upcoming meeting between the two sides — the first managerial meeting between Slot and Guardiola — in just over a week’s time now looks even tastier.
