Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak will hold talks with Pep Guardiola over his future amid growing expectations that the manager will leave the club at the end of next season.
Guardiola is out of contract with City next summer and has already hinted that next season could be his last.
While there has been no formal indication from Guardiola that he will leave, City have openly discussed the prospect of his departure.
The 52-year-old Catalan is not expected to abandon the club by making a decision late next season, out of respect for Al-Mubarak and owner Sheikh Mansour and the realization that the club needs time to determine his successor. plan.
City are expected to give Guardiola the space he needs to make a final decision and Al-Mubarak has revealed he will sit down to find a solution that works for both parties.
“We’ve had this conversation many times before, you know, during the contract years,” the City chairman said in an interview with official club media in Abu Dhabi last Saturday.
“Pep has always been fully committed to this club, fully committed to every contract he has signed with us.
“This decision about his future is always a decision we will make together, and I have no doubt that, as always, we will find the right solution that works for Pep and for us.”
Guardiola has had eight years at City, during which he has helped the club break new ground.
City became the first club in English football history to win four consecutive league titles this season – their sixth championship in seven seasons under Guardiola – 12 months after becoming only the second English club after Manchester United to win the Premier League Treble, the Champions League and won the Champions League. FA Cup.
“It is difficult to put into words what Pep has given this organization, this club,” Al-Mubarak said. “You can only look at records for the sake of history, and I think he achieved almost all the records in the book.
“And these are records that I think will be very, very difficult to ever break in the future. From winning six of the last seven Premier Leagues, to winning four in a row, to the number of victories, the records go on.
“I think what his impact has been on football. English football has changed with the evolution towards the type of football that Pep brought to the league.”
He added: “Since 1926, five teams have attempted to win four times in a row. Five teams. Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool in the 80s and then Manchester United, who tried twice. None of them succeeded.
“In over a hundred years of English football, no team has ever managed to win four championships in a row. So once that sinks in, you really start to appreciate the magnitude of what has been achieved. The difficulty, the challenge, the tenacity that is required.”
Al-Mubarak admitted that City were already plotting more success for next season, with a fifth straight title and another Treble in their sights, partly fueled by the hunger to lose the FA Cup final to Manchester United and with it the chance of a unique victory. double double.
“One of the things you always want to avoid is complacency. You never want to be satisfied. You want to maintain that hunger,” he said. “There is always a silver lining, especially after a defeat you have to find a silver lining. Pep himself was clearly very disappointed, and we had just won the league the week before to end there.
“I spoke to many that day [at Wembley]I told them, ‘Listen, sometimes a bad thing is a good thing. Maybe it will help us a lot next season if we leave with that feeling in the pit of our stomachs of unfulfillment.”
“More importantly, we come back hungrier now because we want to win this again. We want to go for the Treble again and we will try to win every competition we enter. I think that’s the silver lining for me, which is no complacency, no content, always hungry.
“Five in a row? Absolute. No doubt. From top to bottom, I’d say if you asked anyone this question, they would probably give the same answer. Players, managers, physios, management. No matter who you ask, they will answer the same.
“And those five in a row happened as soon as the final whistle blew against West Ham [on the final day]. I remember just going to the field and telling almost everyone I saw, “Excellent. Fantastic result. We are so proud. But now we’re going for five in a row.”
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