Fresh from signing a new contract at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola reiterated his intention to stay with the Premier League champions even if they are punished with relegation for breaching financial rules.
City faces more than 100 charges ranging over a nine-year period when the club was trying to establish itself as the biggest force in English soccer. Sanctions could be as extreme as expulsion from the league and a verdict could come early next year.
City denies the charges and Guardiola, who has agreed to a two-year extension tying him to the club until 2027, said he looks forward to rebuilding the team if it was to drop down the leagues.
“I said six months ago, one year ago, when all the clubs accused us of doing something wrong,” Guardiola said. "(I was asked), ‘What happens if you got relegated?’ I will be here.
“The next year, we'll come up ... I don't know the position or the (division) they are going to bring us, but we are going to come up and come up. We're going to come back to the Premier League. I knew it then and I feel it now.”
Asked why he chose to extend his contract by two years instead of just one, Guardiola responded with a smile: “For the weather.”
Adopting a more serious tone, Guardiola said it was to prevent speculation from building over his future early next season and stressed that there are no guarantees he stays until the end of his latest contract.
“I don't want next season — September, October, November — (for people to say), ‘It’s the last year of Pep, have to extend again,'” Guardiola said. "That was the main reason. I don't want to be in that position.
“At the end, the contract is there. I would like to stay two more years but I know if the results are not good, I will not be two years.”
Guardiola, who arrived at City in 2016, hasn’t just firmly secured his team as the dominant force in the Premier League. He has also taken the English game to a new level, winning an unprecedented four league titles in a row and once leading City to 100 points in a league campaign in one of his eight full seasons at Etihad Stadium.
His decision to stay in English soccer was welcomed by rival Premier League coaches on Friday, even if it made their chances of winning trophies even harder.
“It’s good news for City,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said, “and it’s good news for the league.”
Slot’s Liverpool leads City by five points after 11 games and looks to be the likeliest team to prevent Guardiola from winning five straight titles.
“It’s interesting for us managers to keep facing one of the best managers football has ever had,” Slot said.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said Guardiola’s tactics have “revolutionized how a lot of teams play” in England.
“It’s good for the English game that he is still here and he will continue to develop and evolve his style and people will continue to potentially follow that,” Howe said.
“Of course from the competition side, it keeps the Premier League the best in the world.”
City striker Erling Haaland was delighted to hear Guardiola would be continuing.
“He’s the best manager in the world,” Haaland said in an interview with British broadcaster Sky Sports, “and probably the best manager who ever existed.”
Guardiola will look to end City’s run of four straight losses — his worst streak of results as a coach — when he leads the team into a home match against Tottenham on Saturday.
Guardiola said Thursday that City’s poor run was a big reason why he signed a new deal, with some questioning whether the club's era of dominance was coming to an end.
“I felt I could not leave now. Maybe the four defeats was why,” Guardiola told City’s website.
“I think we deserve, after four defeats in a row, to bounce back and try to turn the situation. I think we deserve to be here. I am not arrogant to say, but it’s the truth.”
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
