Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola declares sabbatical, rules out Barcelona return
Guardiola took the job in 2016, and will complete a decade in the job at the end of the coming season. The 54-year-old has won six Premier Leagues, a success rate of 67%, and has managed 533 games, and has two years remaining on his deal. Speaking to GQ Hype, as quoted by MD, Guardiola said the decision to take a sabbatical thereafter was taken.
'I know that after this stage with City I'm going to stop, that's for sure, it's decided, more than decided. I'm going to leave after this stage with City, because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body.'
Guardiola has previously taken a sabbatical between his jobs at Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the 2012-13 season.
Image via Sport
'I think I knew how to stop at the right moment. The same thing happened to me with my coaching job [at Barça], there came a time when I said enough, enough is enough. I'm going to look for another challenge.'
'Stop comparing Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi' – Guardiola
With Lamine Yamal's explosion at such a young age, and little like it having been seen before, his position and circumstances have led to comparisons with the great Lionel Messi. Guardiola believed those comparisons premature.
'I think Lamine Yamal should be allowed to pursue his career. And when he's been playing for fifteen years, we'll decide if he's better or worse. Let him pursue his career. The fact that they compare him to Messi is a big deal. It's like comparing a painter to Van Gogh. They'll say, 'Wow, he's not bad, that's a sign he's good'.'
Image via FC Barcelona
'That's 90 goals in one season, over 15 years, nonstop, without injury. That's a big deal. Leave him alone. Leave him alone.'
Barcelona return ruled out for Guardiola
Guardiola also rejected the idea of returning to Barcelona. While he has always stated that he will not return as manager, there has been some suggestion he could return as president or sporting director, something he also discarded.
'It's over. It's over forever. It was really lovely, but it's over now. No, I'm not cut out for that [to be president].'
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Time Magazine
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Haaland says his mother, a teacher, was upset that he dropped out of school to pursue soccer. 'She was so mad,' he says. 'I've never been that scared. That's proper fear.' (When asked if she is still upset, Haaland replies, 'I think she's all right now.') He got into meditation, a practice he continues to this day, while in Molde, and started celebrating goals with the lotus pose. But in his first 26 appearances for Molde, Haaland scored just four times. And in the week leading up to a July 2018 game against first-place Brann, Haaland performed terribly in practice. 'I was soooo bad,' he says. Molde's manager, Norwegian legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer—whose goal off a David Beckham corner kick clinched the treble for Manchester United in 1999—had used Haaland as a substitute the previous three fixtures. So Haaland was surprised when he was picked to start. 'I'm like, 'F-ck, I don't know what I've done in training this week, because I didn't do anything good. But OK, let's have it.'' Haaland, still just 17, scored four goals in the first 21 minutes of the game. 'It's a life-changing moment,' he says. 'From there, it was keep going and attacking whatever it is to attack.' Haaland wasn't long for Norway. After two seasons in Molde, he moved to Austria to play for Red Bull Salzburg. It took some time for him to get acclimated: Not only was it his first time living abroad, he appeared in just two games for Salzburg in the first half of 2019. 'You miss speaking Norwegian, you miss your family, you miss your friends,' says Haaland. 'The trainer would just scream to me in German, and I was like, 'I don't understand you.' I was like, 'What am I doing here?'' That offseason, however, Haaland had his nine-goal outburst against Honduras and welcomed the arrival of a new manager—American Jesse Marsch, currently the head coach of Canada, who has a reputation as an upbeat, player-friendly personality. 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'Because my father didn't want me to do it,' he says. 'But if you do it, you have to perform. You cannot be with the bun and don't perform.' Haaland's Dortmund contract contained a release clause that kicked in after the 2022 season. Real Madrid and others came calling. He lost sleep over his decision. Haaland used to wear a Man City kit to youth practices in Norway. He donned a Man City shirt that said dad as a toddler. But even more than sentiment, Man City's need for a pure striker up front appealed to Haaland, who signed a five-year deal with the team. 'I felt that this was the last missing piece in the puzzle,' says Haaland. 'Even though they did so well, I still felt I was so wanted here. And this also gave me kind of a boost and a confidence to come in and just smash everything.' He's done just that. In March, Haaland placed a penalty shot in the right side of the net against Brighton, making him the first player in Premier League history to reach 100 goal contributions (84 goals and 16 assists) in under 100 games. 'Er-ling!' the Etihad Stadium announcer cried out. 'Haa-land!' the crowd of almost 53,000 responded. 'It's an absolute dream to be playing alongside him,' says Man City winger Savinho, from Brazil. Initially, there were concerns. 'It was always a culture where no one was bigger than the club,' says Man City defender Nathan Ake, of the Netherlands, who joined in 2020. 'It is a proper team. And when you make statement signings like that, maybe people think, 'Is the dynamic going to change?'' Strikers, by nature, must behave selfishly. 'The ball has to be on your mind,' says Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano, who was vice chairman and CEO of Barcelona during Messi's days in La Liga. Soriano compares Haaland with Ronaldo. 'You can see a teammate scoring a goal, and him not celebrating,' Soriano says of Ronaldo. 'Because he thinks, 'I should have scored.' And it's not that he's a bad person. But that's the mentality. Erling is different. Erling scores a lot of goals, but he also enjoys when other teammates do it. That is impressive.' To the delight of Man City players, Haaland can hold his own in trash-talking sessions. 'We have an interesting kind of banter at the training ground, where we just hammer each other,' says Ake. 'He fit in with that straightaway.' For Ake and others, Haaland's oddball biohacking habits serve as fodder. He cherishes ice baths. He wears glasses that filter out blue light, which can disrupt sleep, before bed. He sometimes eats cow heart. 'For me, to eat as natural and as clean as possible is an important thing,' Haaland says. He gets it from a farm near his home in England. Haaland has a cow-heart guy. Man City's marketing arm at first fretted about Haaland's reputation for giving churlish interviews. While with Dortmund, he often offered uninterested one- or two-word answers to reporters' questions. A YouTube compilation of Haaland media interactions, 'Erling Haaland wasn't made for interviews'—#cringe is in the subtitle—has 2 million views. Critics like Piers Morgan called him arrogant. 'I'd say he isn't programmed for basic manners,' Morgan wrote on Twitter in 2020. Haaland's more engaging with the press these days. 'Yes, I'm more older and mature, that's for sure,' says Haaland, who welcomed his first child in December. But he also blames the media for some of his less-than-effusive responses. 'You would ask, 'How was the weather today?' I would answer, 'It's good,'' he says. 'You get what you ask for. That was my whole point of all of this. You ask stupid questions, you will get a stupid answer back.' At the risk of sounding stupid, I ask Haaland if he's the best player in the world right now. 'No,' he says. 'I'm one of them.' Messi and Ronaldo have reigned atop global soccer for nearly two decades. Haaland can't imagine himself—or his modern-day colleagues—reaching their rarefied air. 'Their records, no one is ever going to take them,' he says. 'Not even me.' Bitter supporters of rival Manchester United—still the second most valuable soccer club in the world, according to Forbes—chalk up Man City's success to economics. According to many Man U fans, ever since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and vice president of the United Arab Emirates, bought City in 2008, his oil wealth has purchased players and championships. Meanwhile Man U's owners, the Glazer family of the U.S., have burdened the club with debts and losing: Man U hasn't won the Premiership in a dozen years. And, these fans argue, Haaland's overrated. 'He's a big galoot,' says United supporter Christine Maun, 73, while watching a midweek Man U game in a Manchester pub in March. 'If he wasn't playing for City, he'd never score what he scores. He's not a classy player. Just stands there.' That's a common knock on Haaland: he's a so-called tap-in merchant, a player who converts easy goals while his teammates do the dribbling and passing. Prompted to respond to that label, Haaland laughs. 'What's the most difficult thing in football?' Haaland asks, rhetorically. 'If you're a tap-in merchant, that means you're scoring a lot of goals, no? There you kind of have the answer. I like it if people call me a tap-in merchant. I love it. That means you're doing something right. That a lot of other people can't.' Plus, it takes skill and athleticism to position yourself to convert those chances. 'His football IQ is off the charts,' says former Premier League midfielder Robbie Earle, now an analyst for NBC Sports. 'He has to think ahead. He's seeing pictures before most other players see them on the pitch. It's almost like a mathematician who can work out the algorithm and the conundrum quicker than anybody else.' It has all added up to Haaland's signing a mammoth 9½-year contract in January. Haaland is making a commitment to Man City even though the club has been charged with breaches of financial regulations, from the 2009–2010 to 2017–2018 seasons, that could result in fines, the stripping of championships, or even expulsion from the Premier League. Man City has denied the charges and is awaiting a verdict by an independent commission. 'I spoke with the bosses, and in the end, I believe them,' says Haaland. 'It's such a tricky situation for me to even sit there and speak about, because I wasn't really involved in it. So I think the club knows what they're doing. They will sort it out.' The contract is the longest in Premier League history. 'This feels really normal for me to do,' says Haaland about the signing. 'They have so much trust in me. Got the good feeling inside my body.' Haaland shouldn't be strolling along the Atlantic Ocean right now. Not because his fair skin is so exposed to the fiery Florida sun (though there's that). No, he should be on vacation, recuperating from the grind of this past season—where he missed six weeks with an ankle injury—and resting his body for the next one, which could see Haaland playing upwards of 70 games between the Premier League, cup competitions, World Cup qualifying, and the World Cup, which kicks off next June 11 in Mexico City. But the soccer calendar, always eager to cash in on the popularity of players like Haaland, called for a more expansive Club World Cup this offseason. 'Every footballer is waiting the whole year for holidays,' says Haaland, as a breeze drifts in off the ocean. 'But as well, the people that have holidays now, they would love to be here.' He did depart the U.S. earlier than expected: on June 30, Saudi club Al Hilal upset Manchester City 4-3 in the Round of 16 (Haaland scored a second-half equalizer in that game, in addition to two other goals in earlier ones). It's been that sort of year for Man City. Haaland still finished second in goals per match in the Premier League, behind Liverpool's Mohamed Salah. But rocky moments stood out. In September, a camera caught Haaland telling Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to 'stay humble' after Man City scored late to draw with the Gunners, 2-2. At one point in the match, he also shouted, 'Who the f-ck are you?' at Arsenal rookie Myles Lewis-Skelly. This all caused a row. So during the rematch in London in February, Arsenal fans could be heard singing 'stay humble' during Arsenal's 5-1 annihilation of the road team. They added a derogatory word. When Lewis-Skelly scored a goal in the second half, he mimicked Haaland's lotus celebration. Haaland has no 'stay humble' regrets. 'I think it's an important phrase, which a lot of people should use, including myself,' he says. 'It's one of the most important things, as individuals, to do.' He takes the chants in stride. 'They won the game 5-1,' says Haaland. 'So yeah, they got me.' And Lewis-Skelly's not the first person to send up Haaland's ritual: Brazilian superstar Neymar did the same thing after scoring for Paris Saint-Germain against Dortmund in a 2020 Champions League game. 'If he wanted to use that moment to mock me, that's fair enough for him,' says Haaland. 'Whatever he wants to do, he can do.' In May, Manchester City still had an opportunity to finish off a disappointing campaign with a trophy, in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. But Crystal Palace won 1-0. Soccer pundits, including English legend Wayne Rooney, knocked Haaland for declining to take a penalty shot before the half. Instead, Haaland gave the ball to Marmoush, who joined Man City from Eintracht Frankfurt, of the Bundesliga, in January. The Crystal Palace keeper, Dean Henderson, stopped Marmoush's attempt. 'Erling Haaland is a world-class forward, but when we're talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no way they are giving that ball away,' Rooney told BBC One. Haaland doesn't dispute Rooney's comments. 'I shouldn't have given it to a new player,' he says. 'So all the responsibility is on me. I put him in this situation. I had a good feeling on him. But I should have taken it myself.' Man City manager Pep Guardiola, one of the world's most respected football minds having won a dozen league titles in Spain, Germany, and England over 16 seasons, has named Haaland to a four-person leadership council for the team next season. He's the youngest member of the group by more than three years. 'I'm quite calm in my head,' Haaland says. 'That's a good thing to bring to others as well, even when the situation can be a bit wild.' He's already put last season behind him. 'I almost forgot it until you started speaking about it,' says Haaland. 'I cannot keep on thinking about last season. That last season was not good enough, this or that. That's the best part of football. There's always something new that's coming. You have to think about what is coming next and live in the present moment.' Norway, meanwhile, has won all four of its World Cup qualifying matches so far. I ask Haaland if he thinks the U.S., which as one of the host countries automatically qualifies for the 2026 World Cup, can win it. Haaland turns the tables, asking me who has a better chance to win, the U.S. or Norway. 'You don't have to answer it,' he says. 'But Norway will never win the World Cup.' The nation last appeared in the event in 1998. 'If we would qualify for the World Cup, it would be like another big nation winning it,' Haaland says. 'It would be the biggest party ever. Scenes in Oslo would be incredible.' He's a realist. And a bit of a diplomat. 'I don't want to be that guy that says the USA is never going to win the World Cup, then they actually win it,' says Haaland, through a hint of laughter. 'So there's a 1% chance they're going to do it. Norway has a 0.5.' Haaland's growing fond of the U.S. The previous day, during the second half of Man City's 2-0 victory over Moroccan side Wydad AC in Philadelphia, his entrance onto the pitch provided the game's loudest moment. 'I didn't know I was famous in the U.S.,' says Haaland. 'Everyone knows who I am.' He's watched Yellowstone and wouldn't mind exploring Montana. 'Get what is the guy, Costner, to drive me around,' he says, laughing. While in the passenger seat of a rental car later in the day—he asks the driver to pull over until he hooks up his Bluetooth to play thump-thump dance music—Haaland spots one of the oversize American pickup trucks that he admires. 'Look at that,' he says. 'That's a f-cking car. I'm going to go out and ask for a photo with it.' He was less impressed with a Cybertruck rumbling around South Florida. 'It's so weird,' he says. All the stoplights reminded him that Bryne has none. He won't even rule out a move to Major League Soccer in the U.S., à la Messi and Beckham, after his Man City deal is done. 'You never know what the future is going to bring,' says Haaland. 'What Messi is doing now is incredible. Also what Beckham did, it's amazing.' As our beach time concludes, I ask Haaland what crosses his mind as he looks out at the ocean. 'Freedom,' he says. 'If you drive with a boat straight out, you're all alone. I feel that is freedom. I also feel peace. Even though there's not peace in the world.' So why not take a boat out there while he's in town? 'I will do it on the holidays,' he says. 'Find my inner peace.' In the meantime, there's always lotus pose on the pitch.
New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
Why Barcelona are wearing Kobe Bryant-branded shirts
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The Nike swoosh has been replaced by the Kobe Sheath logo on the chest, and the shirt's fabric has a snakeskin texture in keeping with Bryant's Black Mamba nickname. Bryant played for the Lakers from 1996 to 2016. Bryant first signed with Nike in 2003, and the most recent, long-term agreement was reached between his estate and Nike in 2022. The sheath logo debuted the same year he signed with the company, on the fourth version of Nike's Air Huarache 2K5 shoes. It was designed by Nike's Eric Avar, who has worked on many of Bryant's series of footwear, and was said to have been inspired by samurai warriors and their swords. Advertisement U.S. college basketball teams such as the Kentucky Wildcats, Oregon Ducks and USC Trojans have worn Kobe-branded shoes and apparel. But this is the first time the former NBA star's brand has collaborated with a football team. It is most well-known for its performance basketball shoes, which are some of the most popular in the NBA. Barcelona signed a new contract extending their partnership with Nike in December, which club sources at the time said was worth a total of €1.7billion over the following 14 years. The previous deal had been due to expire in 2028. The official announcement of the collaboration with the Kobe brand said it is set to continue through to the 2027-28 season. Selected by the Lakers with the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Bryant went on to become the Black Mamba, giving himself the nickname after watching Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies. A black mamba is a species of snake used as a code name for the films' protagonist, a deadly assassin played by Uma Thurman. In 2014, Bryant told American magazine The New Yorker, 'This (Black Mamba) is a perfect description of how I would want my game to be. 'If I create this alter ego, so now when I play, this is what's coming out of your mouth. It separates the personal stuff, right? You're not watching David (the main character's name in the 1970s TV show; it's Bruce in the comics and films) Banner — you're watching the Hulk.' Bryant's work ethic became known as 'Mamba Mentality', used by Nike in its marketing around his line of products. In one of many examples of this mentality, Bryant's former Lakers team-mate Caron Butler once told the Duncan Robinson YouTube channel of going through Bryant's 'blackout' workout — exercising so hard you see stars — the day after Bryant had signed a new seven-year, $136million contract with the Lakers in 2004. Advertisement He won three consecutive NBA titles (2000-02) with the Lakers and was one half of a formidable duo with Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant also won two more titles in 2009 and 2010 with Pau Gasol, who played for Barcelona's basketball team before going to the NBA. Additionally, Bryant won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012. Bryant was a hugely popular player, but after a sexual assault allegation in 2003, he was dropped by many of his sponsors, though not by Nike. Prosecutors dropped the case a year later when the alleged victim told them she was unwilling to testify. He denied the allegations but later apologised — saying he understood that the woman did not view their sexual encounter as consensual, while he did — and settled a civil case out of court. Bryant also told The New Yorker in 2014 that he had created his Black Mamba alter ego to cope with the fallout from that case. He retired in 2016 at age 37 after 20 seasons with the Lakers, scoring a huge 60 points in his final game. Bryant was killed, aged 41, in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles in January 2020, along with one of his four daughters, 13-year-old Gianna, and seven other people. According to Barcelona sources, speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment publicly, the collaboration has special significance given Bryant's emotional connection to the club. Bryant lived in Italy between the ages of six and 14, as his father played professional basketball there, and developed a passion for soccer. He later adopted Milan and Barcelona as his two favourite teams in that sport. He spoke Italian and Spanish, having learned the languages during his years in Europe. Between 2006 and 2015, Bryant visited the Barca squad four times, both in Spain and during their pre-season tours in the United States. In 2017, he spoke to ESPN about the friendships he developed with Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi — and the moment the Brazilian introduced him to the latter during one of the club's summer trips. 'I think Messi must have been 18 at the time, 17 maybe,' he said. 'Ronaldinho called him over and said, 'Kobe, I want you to meet the player who is going to be the greatest player who ever lived'.' Bryant won his last two NBA titles alongside Barcelona native and close friend Gasol. The Spaniard wrote the foreword for Bryant's book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play. According to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, Bryant turned down an offer to extend his career by joining Barcelona's basketball team after leaving the NBA. Advertisement Barca beat the Lakers, featuring Bryant and Gasol, 92-88 in a pre-season game in 2010. Their team included a young Ricky Rubio, who had a 12-year NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers. Barca's footballers held a minute's silence at training following Bryant's passing, and their fellow Spanish sides Real Madrid and Atletico paid their respects with a silence before a derby fixture a few days after the fatal crash. Former Barcelona forward and NBA fan Neymar held up two fingers on one hand and four on the other in a tribute to Bryant — he wore the No 24 jersey for the Lakers — after scoring for Paris Saint-Germain in a match against Lille a few hours after news of his death emerged. Barcelona's basketball team play in the cross-continent EuroLeague, widely considered to be the sport's best league after the NBA. Pau Gasol and his younger brother Marc, a 2019 NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors, are two of the club's most famous youth products. Jabari Parker, the second pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, was a Barca player for the past two seasons before departing this summer. The United States' 'Dream Team', consisting of megastars such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley, famously won Olympic gold at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, helping popularise the sport and showcase its best players on a global stage. (Top photos: Gavi wearing the new shirt; Bryant on a visit to Barca's pre-season camp in 2015; by Getty Images)
