Soccer

Pep Guardiola rules out managing another club after Manchester City

Spaniard says he’s interested in international coaching role

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during a training session at the City Football Academy, Manchester. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during a training session at the City Football Academy, Manchester. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Jamie Jackson
Tue Dec 10 2024 - 21:40
Champions League: Juventus v Manchester City, Wednesday, 8pm – Live on RTÉ 2, Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 2

Pep Guardiola has ruled himself out of managing another club after Manchester City due to a waning of his energy levels, stating an international coaching position would be of interest to him as his next role.

Guardiola signed a new contract with the champions in November until summer 2026 that will extend his tenure to a decade. The 53-year-old is yet to decide if he will depart then but, whenever he does, Guardiola has said he will not take charge of a club side again.

“At some point I will feel like it’s enough and at that moment I will stop for sure,” Guardiola told the Desmontadito YouTube channel. “I’m going to stop. I am not going to join another team, I’m not going to leave to go to another country [for a club]. I won’t have the energy. Now I’m still here, but to think about starting again, the whole process of training – no, no.”

Guardiola said a national team post would be of interest. “Yes, it could be, but that’s different. It’s not every day [training], every three days [playing]. I think I would have to stop [from the daily cycle]. To rest, to see what we have done, what we can do better, because day-to-day we don’t have much time to rest. It’s continuous and to rest I think would be good for me. But right now, no, right now I’m here.”

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City are at Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday night. In their past two European matches they drew with Feyenoord and lost at Sporting – part of a sequence of only one victory in nine games in all competitions, the poorest of Guardiola’s tenure.

He said: “The team is good. The problem especially is that we have the most important injuries in the same department – central defence. We punish ourselves for many games. We make mistakes and have to avoid them. We have to do better with the players that we have in terms of results.

“Confidence is doing the simple things – you regain confidence by making a thousand million passes. I don’t ask for the actions of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. They are unique. They [City’s players] have to do what they are good at.”

Guardiola remains without the injured defenders Nathan Aké, John Stones and Manuel Akanji. Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic travelled to Turin but only the latter may play a part. – Guardian