Pep Guardiola Tells Friends He Intends to Stay at Man City Despite Champions League Ban

​Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is understood to have told his close friends that he has no desire to walk away from the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.

The Citizens were hit with a two-year ban from competing in the Champions League after breaking Financial Fair Play rules. That punishment, coupled with City's inability to keep up with Liverpool domestically this season, has prompted rumours that Guardiola could leave this summer.

Pep Guardiola

As noted by ​BBC Sport, Guardiola does indeed have a break clause in his contract which would allow him to leave at the end of the season, but it is believed that he has told those around him that he plans on remaining at the club.

He is expected to discuss the issue following Wednesday's rearranged league clash with ​West Ham United.

Guardiola's contract is scheduled to run until 2021, but it was thought that he could leave a year early because of ​City's domestic struggles. They currently sit a whopping 25 points behind ​Liverpool, and some suggested that that could be enough to convince Guardiola to walk.

The situation was made worse with news of the ​Champions League ban. That trophy is perhaps the most important to Guardiola, who has failed to win Europe's biggest prize since 2011.

He has faced accusations that he was only able to win the Champions League because he was blessed with a ​Barcelona side which are widely viewed as one of the greatest club sides of all time. 

Barcelona's Spanish coach Josep Guardiol

Since leaving Camp Nou in 2012, Guardiola has failed to win the competition with either ​Bayern Munich or City, so it was suggested that he might want to leave to avoid the prospect of being out of the Champions League for two years.

Long-term admirers ​Juventus were thought to be keen on the boss, despite hiring Maurizio Sarri just last summer, but it appears as though Guardiola is going nowhere just yet.


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Source : 90min