Pep Guardiola Reaffirms Commitment to Manchester City Amid Pre-Season Preparations
The season has yet to commence, but Pep Guardiola finds himself reiterating his dedication to Manchester City.
Understandably, there’s a limit to how many times he can respond to the same inquiries: Will you stay at Manchester City? What drives you each season?
Not long ago in New York, he addressed a similar query, stating, “If you love what you do, why should you stop?” He elaborated the next day, clarifying he never mentioned leaving at the end of his contract next summer and that he would “love to stay.”
Throughout this pre-season tour, Guardiola has made his stance on his contract clear. He wants to see how his players perform this season and will inform the club once he decides his future. However, Friday’s press conference in Columbus underscored that these questions persist. International journalists posed similar questions, prompting Guardiola to reiterate his position.
“I’m a manager for Man City. I’m here, really pleased,” he said. “I’m really satisfied here, we see what happens. Still, I’m happy to do what we do. The competition itself makes the adrenaline to be ready to compete.”
Yet, Guardiola offered a fresh perspective. He emphasized his eagerness to have his full squad back, given that only 20% of his senior team is in the USA. While acknowledging the necessity of giving international stars adequate time off, he expressed his “desperation” to reunite with the entire squad and gauge their motivation for the upcoming season.
He elaborated, “I’m desperate for players to come back when they are ready, refresh what we have to do, add something maybe for our future [tactics]. We have to wait and see how they come back, talk to each other and ask ourselves what the next challenge is. Because we accomplish everything multiple times. The tendency can be to relax, but it didn’t happen in the past. So we try to avoid it, try to be solid and consistent when every year more difficult. When we’re all together we will chat and talk, we will see in the first games the behaviors and body language and performance and we will see.”
Guardiola’s focus is not on his future but on preparing his players for the new season. He is eager to implement plans that have been difficult to execute in the USA. His decision on his future will hinge on the players’ mentality.
There is also concern that City might not be fully prepared for the start of the new campaign. Guardiola mentioned last week that they won’t be at full strength until after the first two Premier League games. Now, he sees this initial period as an extended pre-season.
“In the next few weeks we have Community Shield and two Premier League games and we have long weeks,” he said. “In these moments we have to drop as few points as possible and be together, refresh what we want to do. Normally we come here with 80 percent of the first team, now we arrive here with just 20 percent of the first team. That is a big difference. You cannot do anything. They deserve the holidays. That’s why they cannot come here.”
However, defender Josko Gvardiol offered a different perspective. “We will see,” he said. “All I can say is we hope when they come back we will be strong as we were last season and the thing is we need to start the season on a high note. There is a final we want to win. Let’s go day by day and we will see.”
