Is Pep Guardiola really leaving Man City?! The truth behind exit rumours surrounding revered tactician - revealed

Despite the mystery surrounding Guardiola's future, City chiefs insist they do not know their coach's plans for the future, according to ESPN. Sources close to the agency which works with Guardiola's representatives add that any information about the City manager's future is "heavily protected." The rumours are said to be generated by chatter between rival executives, agents and players, but talk about a potential summer exit for Guardiola refuses to go away, and there would be few surprises now if this were to be the Catalan's last season with the Premier League side. 

Guardiola has enjoyed phenomenal success at the Etihad Stadium, winning six Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup twice and the Champions League. Yet Man City bosses do not dread the prospect of him leaving, according to the Mirror. A decision is expected this season, on whether Guardiola will leave or see out his contract, and City believe they have the right foundations in place to successfully move on from Guardiola once he does finally wave goodbye to the club.

City chairman Khaldoon-Al-Mubarak is set to ask Guardiola's advice about potential replacements, with the club eager to learn from painful lessons experienced by their rivals. Manchester United have struggled since Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to retire in 2013, while Arsenal have also found silverware hard to come by without Arsene Wenger at the helm in north London.

The Cityzens are believed to have already drawn up a three-man shortlist of potential candidates to replace Guardiola which includes Enzo Maresca, Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas. Maresca has already admitted to speaking to City during his time in charge of Chelsea, one of the reasons which ultimately led to his departure from Stamford Bridge at the start of the year.

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Guardiola has been quizzed about his future on several occasions already this season. He said in January: "I have a contract. I said a thousand million times. It's 10 years here. I will leave one day, but I have a contract."

He was asked a similar question again on Friday and trotted out the same line: "I have one more year on my contract. The question of that is [the same as] one or two months ago, but I will tell you again that it is the same answer."

Guardiola has previously revealed that when he finally does decide to call it a day at Manchester City, he will take a break from football. He told ESPN Brasil: "I want people to remember me however they want. After my contract with City, I'm going to stop. I'm sure. I don't know if I'm going to retire, but I'm going to take a break. How I want to be remembered, I don't know. All coaches want to win so we can have a memorable job, but I believe that the fans of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City had fun watching my teams play. I don't think we should ever live thinking about whether we're going to be remembered. When we die, our families cry for two or three days and then that's it -- you're forgotten. In the careers of coaches, there are good and bad ones, the important thing is that the good ones are remembered for longer. I'll tell you that the most important thing is not what people think of you, after all, our lives as footballers have been very good. There are new challenges as a coach, I don't know what will happen in the future and in the end that doesn't matter."

City have endured a mixed season so far but do have a Carabao Cup final to look forward to after beating Newcastle in midweek and setting up a Wembley date against Arsenal. Before that, Guardiola's side will aim to get their Premier League title challenge back on track on Sunday when they travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.