Pep Guardiola expected to leave Manchester City at end of the season
Pep Guardiola is expected to leave Manchester City after 10 trophy-filled years as manager.
The club did not confirm reports on Monday night that Guardiola’s last game as City manager will be at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, the final day of the Premier League season. But increasingly figures around the club expect an announcement before the end of the season. Guardiola’s camp has been approached for comment.
His former assistant Enzo Maresca, who is out of work after leaving Chelsea in January, is expected to replace him.
City play Bournemouth away on Tuesday. They need to win both games to give them a chance of taking the Premier League from the leaders, Arsenal, to secure a domestic treble. Arsenal will be champions if they beat Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Guardiola won his third FA Cup with City on Saturday when they beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley and his fifth League Cup in March.
As manager Guardiola has won six Premier Leagues and a Champions League with City. He has also won the Fifa Club World Cup, Uefa Super Cup and three Community Shields.
Guardiola started at City on 1 July 2016, joining from Bayern Munich. After finishing third in his first Premier League season and saying after a defeat at Leicester that he was “not a coach for the tackles”, he won the title six times in the next seven years.
That sequence started with City getting a league record 100 points and the following season Guardiola delivered the domestic treble. Three trophies were also won in 2023: the league, Champions League and FA Cup.
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Guardiola signed a contract extension to 2027 in November 2024, saying the team’s poor form at the time had prompted him to stay beyond the end of last season. “I didn’t want to let the club down,” he said. “I felt I could not leave now.”
Ahead of the FA Cup final, Guardiola was asked if the visit to Wembley would be tinged with sadness given it could be his last there. “No way. No way. I have a one year [left on my] contract,” he said. “I’m so disappointed that they don’t make a stand for Pep [at Wembley], the number of times I’ve been there – at least a lounge or a box. Maybe I go 24 more times.”
The club are due to hold a celebration in Manchester on Monday 25 May with both the men’s team and the women’s team, who won the Women’s Super League and can win the domestic double if they beat Brighton in the Women’s FA Cup final on Sunday 31 May. City also won the FA Youth Cup.
