Man City chairman eager to find ‘right solution’ to Pep Guardiola future puzzle

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak expects to find the “right solution” regarding manager Pep Guardiola’s future – but has given no indication what that might be.

Guardiola, who is contracted until 2025 at the Etihad Stadium, hinted after steering City to a fourth successive Premier League title last month that next season could be his last at the club.

Yet throughout his tenure the Spaniard has preferred to sign relatively short contracts and has previously gone into the latter stages of deals before recommitting.

The situation beyond the end of next season therefore remains unclear.

Speaking in his end-of-season review, Khaldoon told the club’s media channels: “With Pep, we’ve had this conversation many times before over the years of the contract.

“Pep has always been fully committed to this club, fully committed to every contract he’s signed with us.

“The decision on his future is always a decision we take together, and I have no doubt we will find, as we always have done, the right solution that works for Pep and works for us.”

Guardiola has won six Premier League titles in the past seven years as well as the Champions League, the Club World Cup, two FA Cups and four League Cups since taking charge in 2016.

Khaldoon said: “It’s hard to put into words what Pep has given this organisation, this club.

“You can look at just records for history’s sake, and there I think he’s racked up almost every record in the book.

“These are records that I think will be very, very hard in the future to ever break, from winning six out of the last seven leagues, to winning four in a row, to the number of wins. The records go on and on and on.

“But also beyond that, I think what his impact has been on football. English football has changed with the evolution to the type of football that Pep has brought in to the league.”

After becoming the first club in the history of English football to win four top-flight titles, Khaldoon is in no doubt the next aim is to make it five.

He said: “We’ve done four in a row. Now we’re going to go for five in a row.

“By the way, that (aim for) five in a row, in our minds, happened the second that final whistle against West Ham.

“I remember just going down to the pitch and telling almost everybody I saw, ‘excellent, fantastic result, we’re so proud – but now we’re going for five in a row’.”

The 2023-24 campaign ended on a low note with defeat by Manchester United in the FA Cup final but Khaldoon expects to use the loss as motivation for next term.

He said: “For sure everybody wanted to win. It’s the FA Cup, it’s against Manchester United, it’s doing the double-double back-to-back. From that perspective, (we’re) very disappointed.

“But always you have to think of the silver lining. One of the things you always want to avoid is complacency. You never want to be content, you want to keep that hunger.

“Now we come back hungrier because we want to win this again. We want to go for the treble again. We’re going to try to win every competition we compete in.”