Guardiola won’t leave Man City until he has ‘dominated Europe’ - Lescott

Former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott has said he cannot see Pep Guardiola leaving the club in the foreseeable future.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach has been linked with a move to Juventus next summer amid reports that City could face a transfer ban for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.

While Guardiola himself denied these rumours, Lescott has stated he also believes they have no merit and hinted he thinks the manager may not leave the club until they have won the Champions League.

“I don’t believe Pep Guardiola will move on until he has dominated Europe with Manchester City," Lescott told Sporting Bet.

"You could say it’s unfinished business as he bids to take their football to a global level. Pep has created so much success at Manchester City in such a short space of time and I believe there’s more success to come.

“Everyone associated with the club wants Guardiola at Manchester City and there would be a lot of disappointed fans, staff and players if he left. I don’t expect Guardiola to look to move anywhere until his contract is up in two years, at least,” he added.

The City boss has previously won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 respectively, but in three years at Bayern he failed to win the competition.

Guardiola has also faced frustration in the Champions League with City and after being eliminated in the last-16 stage in 2017, failed to progress past the quarter-finals last season, when they lost to Liverpool over two legs.

This year, after navigating past Schalke in the previous round, City face Tottenham in the last eight and will be hoping to win the tournament for the first time.

Lescott believes his former side have the quality to win the Champions League, but might struggle with the lack of European experience in the squad.

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"I think Man Utd have potentially cleared the way for Man City to win the Champions League when they knocked PSG out of the tournament," said Lescott. 

"I believe PSG were the biggest threat to Man City’s potential success in the Champions League this season.

"Man City could still slip up in the latter stages of the tournament through lack of experience within the squad because not many of the Man City players have as much experience within the Champions League semi-finals. It would be a shame as they are definitely ready to win the Champions League."

Should City win the competition, it might be as part of an historic treble, which the reigning Premier League champions could claim in 2018-19.

City have already wrapped up the Carabao Cup and will return to the summit of the Premier League should they win their game in hand over Liverpool. Guardiola’s men also face Brighton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.