Guardiola yet to conclude negotiations over new City deal

Manager is in no rush to look beyond next season in terms of pledging where his future lies

MANCHESTER:  

Pep Guardiola has yet to conclude contract negotiations over a new deal with Premier League champions Manchester City but said on Tuesday there is no urgency to do so.

The Catalan has led City to the title in his second season in charge at the Etihad and is now two-thirds of the way through the initial three-year contact he signed when he moved to Manchester in the summer of 2016.

It means Guardiola, 47, has now won the league title in all three of the major European countries in which he has managed, following success in Spain with Barcelona and in Germany with Bayern Munich. But he has also established a habit of short spells with those clubs, having spent four seasons managing his hometown club Barca and three in the Bundesliga.



Guardiola, talking ahead of City's final home game of the season against Brighton, remained relaxed about the situation, not least because club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, plus chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain are all personal friends.

But he was also in no rush to look beyond next season in terms of pledging where his future lies and declined the opportunity to answer directly when asked if he would definitely sign a new deal.

"I have one more year and next year I will be here," said Guardiola. "Now it's time to finish well and then start to talk about what we have to do next season, who is staying and who we have to buy.

"I'm not finishing in two weeks or one month — I have one more year. In football one more year is a lot and we're going to talk to the club.

"They are friends of mine — Ferran, Txiki, Khaldoon — and we have time to talk fluently about what is best for the club and us."

Guardiola has made his home in Manchester City centre and has become a prominent figure in the area in his near two years in residence.

And, as the anniversary approaches later this month of the Manchester bombing, in which 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber, Guardiola also reflected on a turbulent year in the city's history and his bond with its people.

"Always you think of the victims, the thoughts are always for them so in the winter we went to the hospitals and saw some of them and the families, and you can imagine how tough a moment it was especially for the families," said Guardiola.

"I was really impressed with the city... and your thoughts on the anniversary are with the people who died and the families who suffered in the moment.

"Of course when it happens, everyone wants to help and wants to be there and wants to be part of the situation, the families when they suffer this terrible painful situation. And I saw because I live in the city how they reacted in the next days and weeks and it was top, hopefully the people will not forget the families."