Pep Guardiola isn’t quitting. He wasn’t in the worst run of results in his managerial career and he won’t, even if Manchester City fail to get the point on Sunday that would earn them a 15th successive season in the Champions League. He won’t, despite his rather exaggerated choice of words on Tuesday when he said the size of his squad would make him walk away. Guardiola being Guardiola, he was complaining he had too many players, not too few.
But there will be departures from the Etihad Stadium this summer. Guardiola is preparing for a clearout. He has a squad of 26; too many, he says, when all bar the injured John Stones and the suspended Mateo Kovacic are available for Sunday’s trip to Fulham. He has had to dispense too much bad news recently, to omit too many players from matchday squads.
