Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said he will have further talks with Pep Guardiola about his future and added that they will find the “right solution”.
Guardiola enters the last year of his current contract this summer and while he has cast doubt over whether he will stay beyond that, saying he is nearer the end of his reign, Al Mubarak claimed they will take a joint decision. By describing him as a manager whose historic achievements could never be repeated, he offered further indications he wanted to keep Guardiola.
City face 115 Premier League charges and Al Mubarak insisted it has taken longer than he would have wanted, and the case, set to finally be heard in November, has hung over the club. He feels the charges are being used to undermine City’s achievements on the pitch.
He said: “The way it’s being talked about, I can feel for our fanbase and everyone associated with the club, to have these charges constantly referenced. I think we as a club have to respect that there is a process that we have to go through, and we’re going through it. It’s taking longer than what anyone hoped for, but it is what it is, and I’ve always repeated, let’s be judged by the facts and not by claims and counter-claims.”
Guardiola has already been at City for eight seasons, longer than his reigns at Barcelona and Bayern Munich put together, and Al Mubarak helped persuade him to sign a contract extension in 2022. He will have further discussions with the 53-year-old, who has become the first manager to ever win four consecutive English league titles.
He said: “We have had this conversation many times before, you know that, over the years of the contract. Pep has always been fully committed to this club, fully committed to every contract that he has signed with us. This decision on his future is always a decision that we will take together, and I have no doubt that we will find, as always, we have done, the right solution that works for Pep and works for us.
“It’s hard to put into words what Pep has given this organisation, this club. You can look at just records, for history’s sake and there I think he’s racked up every record, almost, in the book. And these are records that I think will be very, very hard in the future to ever break. From winning six out of the last seven Premier Leagues, to winning four in a row, to the number of wins, the records go on and on and on. I think what his impact has been on football. English football has changed with the evolution to the type of football that Pep has brought into the league.
“Since 1926, five teams have attempted to win four times in a row. Five teams. Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool in the 1980s and then Manchester United, who attempted it twice. None of them succeeded. In over 100 years of English football, never has any team been able to achieve four championships in a row. So, once that sinks in you start really appreciating the magnitude of what was achieved. The difficulty, the challenge, the tenacity required.”
Al Mubarak said he believes City will retain the title: “Five in a row. Absolutely. Without a doubt.”
He claimed he knew City would win the Premier League when they lost to title rivals Arsenal and praised the team for their defence of the Champions League, where they went out to Real Madrid. “We didn’t lose a single game in the Champions League. No team actually beat us in 90 minutes or 120 minutes,” he said. “We lost on penalty kicks. So we gave it an incredible shot.”
Al Mubarak also suggested the Premier League has put in too many financial regulations, which will limit what clubs can do in the transfer window this summer.
City are reportedly taking legal action against the Premier League over associated party transaction deals, aimed at ensuring they are done at a “fair market value”. Some of the club’s sponsors are from companies in the United Arab Emirates with links to their owners.
Al Mubarak added: “I think the Premier League got to where it is today by being the most competitive league. So, I hope there is a bit more sensibility in regulating. Always a balanced approach is good from all the leagues, be it in England or the rest of Europe. There’s also been a lot of restrictions now put in place on swaps and loans, so even that is now much more restricted. So, I think the level of manoeuvrability that was in place before that allowed teams to do what they were able to do in the past, I think, is much more restricted this year and that’s going to be reflected, I believe, this summer.”
