Pep Guardiola reveals the year he will take break from management in blunt response to former Man City colleague's 'regenerate' warning

Guardiola never previously spent more than four seasons as manager at one club, citing reasons of tiredness or a need for a break as reasons to depart previous clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich. At City, however, he is already in his ninth season and could soon complete a decade with the Sky Blues.

Former Cityzens performance analyst Planchart’s claim that Guardiola should “regenerate” is, therefore, not unprecedented, and the City manager agreed with his sentiment but stressed it will take until 2035 before he considers stepping aside from the third club of his managerial career. His current contract runs until 2027.

The 54-year-old still believes he has "unfinished business" with the eight-time Premier League champions, who are currently at somewhat of a crossroads as many of their treble-winning generation reach the back end of their careers. With vast sums of money spent on an influx of new players across 2025’s two transfer windows, Guardiola feels he still has the “energy” to lead the club as they aim to return to their former title-winning glory - an idea which some critics have questioned in recent months.

Guardiola said in his press conference on Friday: "He’s right but in 2035 I will start to think about it."

He added: "I’m fine, we changed a lot in the last years before but especially the last time, and still the energy that my staff brings me and the new players. I had the feeling in Barcelona, I had the feeling in Munich and now here that if I am a problem I will step aside.

"I still have the feeling that I have the energy to help the players make a better season than last season. This is my target. I never sit here in November saying we’re going to win this or this. I don't know what is going to happen against Everton but before the international break we were far away from the top of the league and now we are closer.

"We want to arrive in competitions being close. That is the target I have and I see things that we are doing things much better than last season and every game we are better and better. That gives me the energy that it is not job done, it is unfinished business and that is why I am here."

Guardiola continued by claiming that when it is time to step aside, he will know. In the meantime, he maintains a close relationship with the club bosses and intends to stick around for the foreseeable future.

"In life when you have a new project constantly, when you do the same for decades or years to centuries, it’s completely different," he said.

"It comes naturally, when the club, the players and manager feel it. We are not the same as when we started 30, or 20, or 10 years ago. We are completely different. That is a question for many reasons. When it happens, it is in a natural way.

"The relationship I have with the chairman [Khaldoon Al-Mubarak] is so close and we are incredibly honest when we feel this moment to make another step, for the club, for everyone. Not just about me, how many backroom staff or my assistant coaches that left. It’s normal. Everyone has their own desires and wishes and it’s normal. Now I am still here in front of you.”

For Man City, a new chapter post-Guardiola seems difficult to imagine. The Catalan arrived at the club in 2016 at a time when the Sky Blues had just two Premier League titles to their name and Leicester City were the reigning champions, with Chelsea winning the title in Guardiola’s first season in England.

The following 2017/18 season saw City romp to the title with a record-breaking 100 points, and they have not looked back since then. 

Guardiola has changed the way managers think across the Premier League on multiple occasions in recent years, from his use of inverted full-backs to the decision to bring back into fashion a powerful Erling Haaland-shaped striker and an aerially dominant back four. It is difficult to envisage the Premier League without his influence, and even harder to imagine who City could bring in to be his successor. 

Without doubt, this is a question to which the club will hope to delay finding an answer. Guardiola’s words will, therefore, bring comfort in the knowledge that he does not plan to leave just yet.