'Possibility' this is Guardiola's final Man City season

BBC News

2 days ago

Spanish football expert and BBC Sport columnist Guillem Balague says Pep Guardiola will "100%" retire from club football management after the end of his current City deal but believes it also "could happen earlier".In November 2024, while City were in the midst of a slump in form that increased speculation over his future, Guardiola signed a two-year extension to keep him at the club until the end of the 2026-27 season."Nobody can predict if the fire we see now in his eyes, the jokes with the players, how he came refreshed from the summer, will continue until the end of the season," Ballague told a special City-focused episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast."He's got a two-year contract and 100% after those two years he will not continue with club football. But, that could happen earlier. This could be his last season."So, when you ask around and try to dig, you wonder if he is excited because it is his last season or because he really feels that he has a team he can mould to create a new Manchester City."It would be his third version of a winning side at the club. The club have said: 'We don't care - as long as we see him this happy we don't care if this is the last season'. But it is a possibility."If he sees himself with the ability to continue we will see a second year, but we will not see a third year. We are seeing the end of Pep Guardiola as a club manager."Is it enough energy to continue this whole season or maybe two? We just don't know."Pep Lijnders is helping to add that energy and explosiveness and Guardiola is loving that. That is something that reinvigorates him."Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds