The club’s hierarchy are adamant their Spanish manager will honour his contract at the Etihad Stadium amid recent speculation
Pep Guardiola will stay at Manchester City and see out his contract, according to the club’s chief executive Ferran Soriano.
Guardiola is contracted to City until 2021, however, there are doubts over the Spaniard’s future in Manchester following back-to-back Premier League titles.
Reports – which Guardiola has denied – have claimed there is a clause which would allow the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss to leave at the end of the current campaign.
However, Soriano is confident Guardiola will stay and honour his deal amid speculation he wants to return to Barcelona.
“Pep has said so many times that he has a contract that covers this year, plus next year too,” Soriano said at the Dubai International Sports Conference.
“There is no discussion about this. Pep will stay and he’ll leave at the right time one day – and the club is strong enough to survive any change.
“But as Pep said many times, he’s not leaving.”
Guardiola moved to City in 2016 and his side have dominated English football up until this season.
City have won seven trophies since the 2017-18 campaign, however, Guardiola’s men are third and 14 points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool this term.
Sunday will see City host Sheffield United at the Etihad Stadium following Friday’s stunning 3-2 loss away to Wolves.
Forced to play two league games in such quick succession, Guardiola has made no secret of his anger at the domestic competition’s scheduling over the festive season.
“I don’t have any confidence about that. They don’t care,” Guardiola said when asked if he would like to see the Premier League change and look at player welfare.
“In the first season it was the same, we played at Anfield and two days later with Burnley at home.
“My words are not going to change anything, Jose [Mourinho] and Jurgen [Klopp] have said the same. Every season is the same, TV decides and we have to adapt.
“I have to evaluate the players and how they feel. We have to put fresh legs on. I honestly don’t know how they are going to recover and how they feel, we’ll see.”
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