Pep Guardiola has been a serial winner wherever he’s been, and has set records at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City that will surely never be surpassed.
The Catalan coach’s influence not just on the clubs he has managed but the leagues he has managed in is marked.
Certainly in the Premier League there is a before and after, with teams now working in such a way as to replicate what Guardiola brought to the English top-flight.
Rather than the traditional long ball out from the back, teams prefer intricate patterns of play from back to front, with possession of the ball and a high press key to success.
Man City chairman to sit down with Pep Guardiola
It’s no real wonder that Man City have been as successful during the last few years, because Guardiola’s relentless drive for perfection means that he won’t allow any of his high-profile stars to rest on their laurels.
Managing with such intensity will always take its toll of course, and he has been at City for much longer than his stints at Barca and Bayern.
Perhaps next season will be his last at the Etihad Stadium, and chairman, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, is prepared to sit down with Guardiola to discuss the best solution for everyone.
“We have had this conversation many times before, you know that, over the years of the contract,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with club media.
“Pep has always been fully committed to this club, fully committed to every contract that he has signed with us.
“This decision on his future is always a decision that we will take together, and I have no doubt that we will find, as always, we have done, the right solution that works for Pep and works for us.”
Though the chairman can feel quite bullish about whether he can persuade Guardiola to carry on, Pep has always done things his own way – on and off the pitch.
The level of success that he’s brought to Man City afford him the courtesy once again of being able to be in charge of his own destiny.
If he feels that he’s taken the club as far as he can, then there is no doubt that Pep will walk. If on the other hand he feels there is unfinished business, he may yet renew.
