Pep Guardiola led Manchester City to a historic Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble last season. Photo: PA/Martin Rickett
Pep Guardiola kicks off his eighth season in English football with an ominous warning to rivals Manchester City that he's not ruling out a contract extension.
Three-time winners City are looking for even more honours. Sunday's Community Shield meeting with Arsenal, he has a contract until 2025.
But the 52-year-old Guardiola insists that, despite his success last season, the efforts did not tire him and, on the contrary, he may still be looking for is in talks to stay on Etihad in the tenth campaign.
“I signed a contract for another two years because I feel comfortable and nothing has changed whether we won [the treble] or not,” he said.
“I'm happy and people are happy. happy, especially the board and the hierarchy, because in the end they decide which manager will lead this group of players. If they're happy, I'm still happy. I want to defend what we have won and maybe at the end of the season, if I get tired, we will talk to the club – or maybe extend it some more.”
Guardiola helped City become only the fifth club in the 136-year history of English football to win a third successive league title last season. In the eyes of many, City will be favorites to become the first to win the league title four years in a row.
Despite the pressure of last season and short recovery time, Guardiola said he enjoyed a relaxing break.
“Of course it was a good summer because we made it,” he said. “In the first game of the Champions League, I will no longer be asked if we should win and stuff like that. When the competition starts, we work hard. Yesterday it was Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal. It's the competition that puts you in that position. In the summer you relax while other people work at the club to find what we need. But the moment the competition starts, warnings and players appear. It's easy.”
Kevin de Bruyne has not played in any of Manchester City's pre-season matches since a hamstring injury knocked him out of the Champions League final in May. the new season is linked to the ever-increasing demands of top-level football, which this year will have increased extra time to combat wasting time.
The city manager also points to a new, expanded club FIFA World Cup starting in the summer 2025, will further increase the load on the main stars of the game.
“Every preseason is shorter,” he said. “I know that at the end of next season we are going to have the World Club Championship in the United States of America; after the end of the season for another two or three weeks. This means that the holidays will last 15 days, or maybe two weeks.
“The problem is mental. They are exhausted. Look at how many players are injured in preseason in bad conditions: humidity, heat, not very good fields – especially in the States. But what is, is. We have to adapt, adapt, but this is not normal. Right now, for example, every game we're going to play for 100 minutes will be 100 minutes.
“The waste of time, from my point of view, will not be solved by adding another 10 minutes. What happens if they continue to work slowly? This is more tiring for the players. It's too much. FIFA, UEFA, more competitions, (Club) World Cup, more teams. Before that, there were European champions and [South American] Libertadores – two teams, that's all. Winner. After there were eight, now there will be 12, and I don't know what this will do in the future for the players, for the training of the managers.
“They love to play football. But they also need to recover from the stress, tension and pressure they experience during many [games]. To keep up the show they're doing in front of 55-60,000 people, is that a lot of energy, mental energy and doing it every week? After all, it's a lot. But every year it gets worse and worse, and it will get worse, and I don't know how it will end, honestly. I don't know.
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