Pep Guardiola has agreed to a contract extension with Manchester City, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. The 53-year-old is believed to have committed to a deal that will tie him to the club for a further 12 months, and it is believed there will also be an option to extend until 2027.
Guardiola’s current terms would expire at the end of this season; This new deal will see him remain in charge of the club he joined in 2016 for ten years. Few at the time expected the Spaniard to stay at the Etihad Stadium for longer than the combined length of his tenures at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. However, Guardiola has settled in Manchester and has enjoyed relentless success, winning six Premier League titles in addition to the 2022 Champions League.
For a while, however, it looked like this summer could be an end point for Guardiola. Celebrating a fourth straight league win in May, he said he was “closer to leaving” than staying, while the departure of director of football and colleague Txiki Begiristain sparked fresh speculation about the manager’s future .
Instead, Guardiola’s appointment, which has not yet been confirmed by City, offers some stability at a turbulent time for the English champions. Off the pitch, they face at least 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules, all of which they deny. Dealing with the fallout could prove to be one of the biggest challenges in the career of one of Europe’s most successful coaches.
In the short term, there’s the matter of stopping the worst losing slump of his career. Guardiola had never lost four games in a row in all competitions prior to the defeat to Brighton on November 9. His team will face Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and want to close a five-point lead on Premier League leaders Liverpool.