Guardiola set for contract talks with Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has confirmed he will hold talks with Manchester City’s hierarchy at the end of this season regarding his future with the Premier League champions.

Guardiola steered City to the title with five games remaining of his second campaign in charge, with the EFL Cup already secured via a 3-0 Wembley win over Arsenal in February.

The 47-year is due to enter the third and final year of his Etihad Stadium deal next term, having spent four and three years at Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively in his previous jobs.

There is an understandable appetite for Guardiola to renew among City’s fanbase given the dominant nature of their title triumph and he offered some tentative encouragement in that regard ahead of Sunday’s home game against Swansea City.

“We’ll speak to the club at the end of the season,” he said. “I have one more year – I am not finishing now.

“We have to see what they think of the future. It also depends on my energy and my strength to keep going.

“Now I feel good, I feel comfortable to be here. We’ll speak with Ferran Soriano, Txiki Begiristain and Khaldoon al Mubarak.

“We are going to decide what is best for the club. At the moment I’m okay.”

Pep addresses the squad as the Champions of England return to training. #mancity  pic.twitter.com/ht4WncdJeC

— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 19, 2018

On the prospect of staying with City longer than any of his previous clubs, Guardiola pointed out how fickle fortunes in football can be if success is not sustained.

“I don’t know, football changes a lot,” he said. “Now we are the champions and everybody is happy but immediately you can lose that feeling.

“The team are an amazing group of guys, the players and the staff. But you can lose that, you can drop it.

“I don’t know even how I am going to react after winning the Premier League. Football changes.

“In the next five games we are going to see how we arrive with success. It is a good test for all of us to see what’s going to happen next season.”

City have the Premier League’s record points and goals tallies of 95 and 103 in their sights over five remaining matches pitting them against sides at the wrong end of the table – something Guardiola hopes can act as motivation against a familiar lull.

Pep’s winning philosophy in his own words… #mancity  pic.twitter.com/F9A8gAfHXE

— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 16, 2018

“In the past, when I won the league with Barcelona and Bayern Munich – five, six, seven games before the end – the next five or six games were not good,” he added.

“We tried to keep going but we were not able. Maybe to think about that, how many points we can get, is a good argument to keep going.

“The important thing is to win the title; the records are okay but they are not the most important thing.

“But if that can help us to be more focused against four or five teams fighting against relegation… it would be nice to finish good in terms of the good feelings we’ve had all the season.”