My time as a Barcelona manager is over and I’m happy at Manchester City, proclaims Pep Guardiola
In light of the rumours linking him with a move to Barcelona, Pep Guardiola has admitted that his time to manage the club is over with him happy in charge of Manchester City. The former Bayern Munich boss’ spell at the Camp Nou is considered to be one of the greatest in modern football history.
With Josep Maria Bartomeu resigning as the president of Barcelona, it has seen Victor Font, the favourite to replace the outgoing Barca president, revealed that he wants Pep Guardiola back at the club to lead the La Liga giants where they deserve to be. That has sparked a catalogue of rumours surrounding the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss despite him admitting in the past that he has no plans of returning to the Camp Nou.
The Spaniard, who spent four years between 2008 and 2012 at Barcelona, again dismissed any chance of him going back to the Camp Nou in a recent interview. instead, Guardiola reiterated his love for Manchester City and wished current Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman the best of luck. Furthermore, the City boss also added that with the elections for a new president set to start soon, he hopes the club can find their way back to the highest level.
"I’ve said it many times, my career as a manager at Barcelona is over. I think once in a lifetime, you have to do these things and there are incredible people who can be in charge now, for example Ronald Koeman is an excellent manager, so it’s over. I’m still incredible happy here [at Man City], I still have the desire to do well and this is the most important thing,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
"Now, there will be elections at Barcelona and hopefully they can choose the right people for the right board to maintain this incredible club at the highest level. My career there as a manager was incredible and now Koeman is there, respect him please. He's the manager, a real friend of mine. I'm getting old so to be manager at Barcelona, you have to have a special energy…That's why it belongs to young people."