Pep Guardiola stays at Manchester City. The Santpedor coach, who ended his contract at the end of this season, has reached an agreement to maintain his ties with the sky blue club until 2023. He announced this with a message on Twitter (“The journey continues”). accompanied by the photograph of the coach. In this way, Guardiola will be in the English team for seven years, his longest stint on the bench. A decision that, in return, prevents his name from being used in electoral terms in the next Barça elections, where there had been speculation about a possible return to the Camp Nou. This option is discarded.
The journey continues ????
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– Manchester City (@ManCityCatala) November 19, 2020
Both parties had verbally agreed to the renewal and all that remained was to draft the contracts and make the announcement public. Guardiola had expressed his doubts earlier this season and had asked for time to be able to analyze the project and see how far he looked with strength and confidence to continue. Finally, the renovation has come to fruition.
According to journalist Lu Martín, on Cadena Ser, the coach had no deadline to accept the renewal or reject it, but the club had asked him as quickly as possible to find a replacement, in case you prefer to pack. Once it was confirmed that Guardiola was still at the Etihad Stadium for two more years, the club began the process of renewing the squad, one of the key points in this decision, and that both Manchester City and the coach agreed that it was necessary. .
“Since I arrived at Manchester City I have felt very well received by everyone at the club and in the city. Since then we have achieved great things together, scoring goals, getting titles and we are very happy with these achievements,” he said. said the technician once the renewal was confirmed. Now the challenge is to “keep improving and evolving.” This season City are tenth in the Premier League, one game behind and six points behind leaders Leicester.
Guardiola coached Barça (2008-2012) and Bayern Munich (2013-2016), before committing to City. In England he has won all local titles: Premier League (2018 and 19), FA Cup (2019), League Cup (2018, 2019 and 2020) and Community Shield (2018 and 19).
The return will have to wait
With this renewal, the options for Guardiola to return to Barça are fading, at least imminently. Although the coach had already made it clear that his time as a first team coach had passed, some pre-candidates had polled him to return to the club, as head coach or with some other responsibility at the club. The return, if it occurs, will have to wait. Guardiola is no longer a possible electoral letter.
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