Barcelona legend confirms he will stay at Man City amidst return rumours

Nobody quite knows who Barcelona’s new manager, if there is to be a new one at all, will be. A number of names were thrown around: Xavi, Pimienta, Erik ten Hag, Jürgen Klopp, and (to the excitement of culérs), Pep Guardiola, who has most recently in an interview with Movistar stated that he won’t be moving from the Etihad.

Barcelona enjoyed tremendous success under Guardiola and Laporta, most notably the sextuple, constituting the first team to ever win 6 trophies in the span of a single season. Since his departure though, the Spaniard has stated a number of times that his career with the Catalan club is over.

That didn’t stop President Laporta from declaring that the former manager is his first choice to lead his new sports project, though. He reportedly was to hold a meeting with the 50-year-old after the Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on Sunday to convince him to return to Camp Nou and manage his former team. 

While Guardiola’s love for the club is undeniable, it was always unclear whether or not he truly would ever manage the first team again, especially after the iconic stint he had with the Blaugrana from 2008 to 2012. 

Reportedly, the best chance he would have at returning would be if he won the UEFA Champions League with the Manchester club, which may finally be a possibility this time around, seeing as Manchester City are in the Champions League final after what has been an evidently brilliant season.

It is now unknown what exactly would materialise from the meeting that he plans to hold after the final, since Pep reportedly stated in an interview that he would stay at Manchester City, regardless of the outcome on Sunday:

Interviewer: “Does winning or losing change your future at City?”

Pep: “No. I’m staying.”

Interviewer: “No doubts?”

Pep. “No. I’m sure”

While it is, of course, unlikely that the manager would suggest that his future is uncertain before arguably the biggest game in his career as Manchester City coach, it does align with previous comments (including from the author of Pep’s autobiography) that the former club legend will not be returning to Barcelona.