Pep Guardiola, the renowned football manager, has recently shared his future plans after achieving significant success with Manchester City. The 52-year-old manager has decided to "close the chapter" with Manchester City following their victory at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Guardiola won his 16th trophy as a manager at Manchester City in Jeddah on Friday evening. This victory marked their fifth trophy of 2023 and further solidified their status as one of the most successful clubs in recent years. An impressive 4-0 win over Fluminense led to this Club World Cup title.
“I would like to say we had the feeling we would close the chapter, we won all the titles, there’s nothing else to win, I had a feeling the job was done, it was over. Enzo [Maresca] helped us to win the treble, Mikel, all my staff, all the players from day one, Vincent [Kompany] to Kyle [Walker] as captains, all players mentioned, Joao [Cancelo], Cole Palmer, Riyad [Mahrez], Ilkay [Gundogan], helped us to achieve something incredible to be here and to play this tournament. It’s most difficult to arrive here, once we are here it’s perform well.
“Now it’s Christmas time, buy another book and start to write it again. The last eight years it’s over. When I close the chapter it’s for eight years of incredible work behind the scenes, I had a feeling all the titles you can win we have done it.
During Guardiola's eight-year tenure at Etihad Stadium, Manchester City has won every major trophy available. These include prestigious titles such as the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Emirates FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles before their latest triumph in Saudi Arabia.
Manchester City is also set to compete in an expanded 32-team Club World Cup in 2025.
The end of the 2024/25 campaign is currently slated to be Guardiola’s last season with Manchester City. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has a contract with the club extended until May 2025.
Guardiola signed a new two-year deal back in November 2023 which was his third contract extension since he joined Manchester City back in 2016.
Despite announcing his departure plans, Guardiola is not slowing down on ambitions for more silverware. He aims to become the first-ever manager to secure four successive Premier League titles. However, this pursuit seems challenging as they have only managed one win out of their last six matches.
