Manchester City stance on Pep Guardiola exit request possibility revealed | OneFootball

The stance to be taken by Manchester City regarding the future of Pep Guardiola has been revealed in the event of a request to leave the club from the Catalan tactician.

The 54-year-old is currently steering his Premier League champions through their most difficult campaign since Guardiola’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium back in 2016, with the threat of a rare trophy-less campaign now very real.

That possibility was further heightened on Wednesday night as Real Madrid made light work of Manchester City in a last-16 play-off second-leg in the UEFA Champions League, as a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick recorded a 6-3 win in favour of Los Blancos.

Defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu and across the two legs in two weeks meant it is the first season that City have failed to reach the last-16 of the Champions League since the 2012/13 campaign under Roberto Mancini.

This is now also the first time in Pep Guardiola’s entire coaching career that the legendary boss has suffered 13 defeats in a single competitive season, further underlining the challenges faced by the club across all competitions.

But such is the respect for Guardiola’s remarkable and history-defining achievements at the Etihad Stadium that his position as manager is certainly under no threat, although officials would seemingly respect a desire to leave should it emerge at any stage.

According to a new report from The Telegraph’s Jason Burt and James Ducker, sources have revealed that part of Pep Guardiola’s motivation for extending his Manchester City contract through to the summer of 2027 last year was to ‘put things right’.

However, should there be a request from the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss to leave the Etihad Stadium with immediate effect, the report states that chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the club would not stand in his way such is the close nature of their relationship.

Manchester City still have plenty of challenges this season alone as they compete in the Premier League for a place in the top-four, to ensure that they will feature in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

The possibility of silverware is not entirely over either, and given the exits of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool in particular, City are clear favourites to claim the FA Cup crown despite their struggles.

Pep Guardiola and his players welcome Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle to the Etihad Stadium in the fifth round of England’s most-loved cup competition early next month, having defeated Salford City and Leyton Orient in previous rounds.