Pep Guardiola formally approached by Manchester City executives over future plans

Manchester City officials have taken the unusual step of formally asking Pep Guardiola whether he intends to honour the final 12 months of his contract, talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs reports, as the Premier League champions accelerate contingency planning for life after the Catalan.

Guardiola, 55, is tied to the Etihad until June 2027 after signing a two-and-a-half-year extension in November 2024, yet persistent speculation suggests he could depart as early as this summer. Director of football Hugo Viana, tasked with overseeing a squad rebuild that has already reshaped the first-team roster, is leading the internal review and wants clarity before the club enter another busy transfer window.

The approach is understood to have been framed as a routine check-in rather than an ultimatum, but it underlines the urgency inside the Etihad boardroom. City executives are compiling a five-man shortlist of successors, with former club assistant Enzo Maresca—sacked by Chelsea on 1 January—installed as the early frontrunner. Preliminary dialogue between Maresca and City’s hierarchy is believed to have taken place during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Guardiola has publicly brushed off exit rumours, insisting he remains committed to guiding an emerging squad through the latest phase of transition. Since last summer he has refreshed his back-room team, recruiting Pep Lijnders, Kolo Toure and analyst James French, and has repeatedly told journalists he is excited by the challenge of moulding City’s next generation.

Privately, however, senior club sources concede that an extension beyond 2027 is viewed as “highly unlikely” and that the coming weeks could prove decisive. The reigning English champions, currently locked in an FA Cup quarter-final with Liverpool on Saturday, are said to be “relaxed” about the situation, confident that structured succession plans will safeguard continuity whenever Guardiola opts to leave.

For now, the ball rests with the six-time Premier League winner. City’s power brokers want an answer by late spring so that recruitment strategy, pre-season scheduling and commercial commitments can be calibrated accordingly. Whether Guardiola responds by reaffirming his stay-for-one-more-year stance or signals a swansong in the forthcoming months will shape the narrative of the club’s summer and, potentially, the broader landscape of English football.

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