Pep Guardiola faces what may be the final stretch of a decade at Manchester City as the club prepares for Sunday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa and staff and players brace for his exit.
City are preparing for Guardiola’s exit after the Villa game, with members of staff under the understanding that he will leave at the end of the season and members of the squad anticipating his departure after the final game against Villa.
The scale of his record at the Etihad is the immediate weight behind those preparations: over a 10-year spell Guardiola has won 17 major trophies and 20 in all, including six Premier League titles, the Champions League, three FA Cups and five EFL Cups.
Guardiola has repeatedly pushed back on speculation in recent days. On Friday, when asked whether the FA Cup final would be his last visit to Wembley, he said, "No way." In a pre-match interview on Saturday he answered "Yeah" when asked if he would still be at the club next season and added, "I am here, I have a contract." At a news conference on Monday previewing Tuesday’s trip to Bournemouth he said, "Next. So many times – I have one more year," and elsewhere he has said simply, "one more year."
The club has presented a different, measured line. Manchester City maintain Guardiola has a contract for next season and say they are hopeful he will remain as manager, while also turning attention to how best to mark his tenure if he does depart.
The tension is straightforward: Guardiola is publicly asserting the terms of his contract and reiterating his presence, but internal expectations and outside sources point to an exit at season’s end. That contradiction has left the club balancing messaging for supporters, preparations on the pitch and behind-the-scenes planning about a handover.
There is already a name attached to what comes next. Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is reported as the front-runner to replace Guardiola, a likely successor who would inherit a squad and structure shaped in large part by Guardiola’s decade at the club.
For City the immediate task is practical and ceremonial. Players and staff are treating the final home fixtures, and particularly the Villa match on Sunday, as a hinge moment: part squad farewell, part football preparation. The club says it is focused on how best to mark Guardiola’s tenure while still managing the ordinary demands of a Premier League season.
The single unresolved fact that now matters most is simple and consequential: will Manchester City confirm Guardiola’s departure at the end of the season and move to appoint Enzo Maresca as his successor, or will they instead keep the manager who insists he has "one more year" on his deal?
