Soccer

Pep Guardiola agrees new one-year contract with Manchester City

Spaniard’s fresh terms extend tenure to summer 2026

Manchester City have lost their last four matches, the first time Pep Guardiola has overseen such a run in his 15-year managerial career. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Manchester City have lost their last four matches, the first time Pep Guardiola has overseen such a run in his 15-year managerial career. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Jamie Jackson
Tue Nov 19 2024 - 22:04

Pep Guardiola has agreed a new one-year contract with Manchester City in a huge boost for the Premier League champions, the new terms taking his tenure to the summer of 2026.

Following City’s 2-1 FA Cup final defeat by Manchester United in May, Guardiola took time over the summer to consider his future.

The manager’s last two contract extensions were also agreed in November when travelling to Abu Dhabi, the home nation of the club’s owner, Sheikh Mansour. Ahead of City’s 2-1 loss at Brighton on November 9th, their last game before the international break, Guardiola was asked if he had any plans to go there again during the international break.

He said: “No. I said many times, I won’t talk about it [a new contract]. When it happens, it will happen. We’re in touch regularly.”

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City have lost their last four matches, the first time Guardiola has overseen such a run in his 15-year managerial career. They are second in the league with 23 points from the opening 11 matches, five points behind the leaders, Liverpool.

The club is also defending itself at an independent commission against the more than 100 charges of alleged financial wrongdoing brought against it by the Premier League. City deny all of the charges and Guardiola’s decision indicates a renewed energy and desire to bring more success to the club he took over in summer of 2016.

It also suggests Guardiola has not been influenced by the decision of City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, to depart in the summer. Begiristain, a former team-mate of Guardiola at Barcelona and a close friend, will be replaced in the close season by Hugo Viana, who occupies the same role at Sporting.

Guardiola is already the most successful manager in City’s history. In eight years at the club, the 53-year-old has guided City to six Premier League titles, including the last four in succession, which is a record. He also claimed City’s inaugural Champions League in 2023, plus two FA Cups and four League Cups.

On Saturday Guardiola aims to arrest the four-game losing sequence when Tottenham visit the Etihad Stadium.

After the 4-1 defeat at Sporting in the Champions League, the third City loss in the run, Guardiola said: “It will be a tough season – we knew that from the start. But this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players and try it.” – Guardian