Man City manager Pep Guardiola hopes to remain in his role for ‘as long as possible’ despite recent reports claiming the club are lining up possible replacements.
The Spaniard has been fabulously successful since taking over at City in 2016, but it was reported this week that Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca had been tipped to take over from Guardiola if he decided to leave this summer.
He remains under contract for a further 18 months, and, after admitting that “sooner or later I will quit Manchester City,” he insisted that he planned to stay put.
"Last season was a really, really tough season and I didn’t give up and I was there," he said. "This season is much better in terms of many things I’m seeing and still I’m here. It depends on my feelings. My feeling right now is good, that’s why I want to continue.
"It’s going to change? Maybe. I don’t know. But now what I’m feeling now is not [that], what I’m feeling now is with the players I want to continue as much and as long as possible."
He continued, saying that after a trophy-laden career, he is no longer solely motivated by winning silverware. Rather, he is more focused on ‘the journey’.
Guardiola went on: "Of course I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League but that is not the reason why I wake up in the morning.
"It’s the process, the journey. Do it better. With the trophy raised high and a parade, we’re happy.
“Well done Pep. Two days later it’s ‘what’s next?’ It is the process to see the team move along.
"The moment I feel that it is done and with the players I cannot squeeze more – or I can’t visualise how we could do better – then I will go home.”
Guardiola is a known perfectionist, and the endless pursuit of the perfect team may be what motivates him to continue in his role.
“Still I have the feeling. I saw Brentford and see one detail where we have to improve. There are things that have happened in the last month that are much, much better.
“We’ve talked a lot. It made me happy. It makes us score more goals.”
"Before it was just Erling scoring and now we have more players scoring goals. The people up front make more assists and more impact.
“The long balls that we were losing all the time, the second balls… now we are winning more second balls. From there we play more.
"Still our build-up is not good, not good. Still we can play better, have more courage to play. We have many details. Defensively we are not aggressive enough, we’re not doing perfectly what we’re working and talking about.
“It’s not a regret, I’m not complaining. We still have margin to do it better and when that happens we will be closer."
