Pep Guardiola Manchester City

Guardiola to keep Man City guessing on new contract

Pep Guardiola is to keep Manchester City sweating on his future, with the Catalan refusing to speculate on whether he will be extending his contract with the Premier League champions.

There are just 12 months left to run on the three-year deal a highly-rated coach penned at the Etihad Stadium upon his arrival in 2016.

City are understandably reluctant to part with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, with domestic dominance having been restored in 2017-18.

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Guardiola, though, has always preferred to work towards short-term targets – spending four years at Camp Nou and three at the Allianz Arena – and admits he is unable to predict what will happen next season.

Pressed for an update on his future ahead of a midweek meeting with Brighton, the 47-year-old said: “I have one more year - and next year I will be here.

“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.”

Pep Guardiola Manchester City future contractPlaying Surface/Getty

City supporters will be relieved to hear that a man who has returned the Premier League crown to the blue half of Manchester is planning to hold talks at some stage.

Guardiola added on his plans, with there plenty of familiar faces around him at the Etihad: “They are friends of mine – Ferran [Soriano], Txiki [Begeristain] and Khaldoon [Al Mubarak] – and we have time to talk fluently about what is best for the club and us.”

For now, City are focused on breaking more records before the current campaign comes to a close.

With two fixtures left to take in – against Brighton and Southampton – a team which has already recorded 102 goals this season could yet become the first to reach the 100-point mark.

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