I have one more year on my contract, insists Pep Guardiola despite Manchester City exit reports | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted he remains under contract despite increasing belief around the club that he will leave this summer.

The Catalan will be leading his side against Bournemouth and Andoni Iraola on Tuesday night as they look to keep the title race alive till the final day of the season.

Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points with a win over Burnley on Monday night and nothing less than three points will do for Manchester City on the south coast.

Guardiola could be in charge of his final away fixture as City manager at the Vitality Stadium following a flurry of reports in the English press on Monday night that the 55-year-old has decided to bring the curtain down on his tie in England’s north-west.

What is the latest on Pep’s Man City future?

It was reported heavily late on Monday night that Guardiola has decided against seeing out the final year of his Manchester City deal, owing to a clause in his contract that allows him to leave the club this summer.

The Catalan penned a two-and-a-half year deal at the Etihad Stadium in November 2024 to oversee a significant rebuild in the first-team squad, winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup double this term as City remain at a nascent stage of that revamp orchestrated by sporting director Hugo Viana.

There remained hope within the Manchester City fanbase that Guardiola could yet make a u-turn and decide to finish his contract, with reports over the weekend citing that the 55-year-old had fallen in love with his squad in their impressive second half of the season.

However, it is now widely expected that a formal announcement is in the offing to confirm Guardiola’s decision to step down as Manchester City manager after Sunday’s home Premier League clash against Aston Villa.

What has Pep said on his Man City future ahead of Bournemouth?

Speaking in a press conference ahead of Tuesday night’s must-win meeting with Bournemouth, Guardiola was asked what sort of farewell he would like from the club if he knew he were leaving.

Sighing in frustration at the monotonous nature of a question he has regularly been asked in press conferences since the New Year, the Manchester City manager said: “Next. Allez! I said many times, I have one more year.”

However, Guardiola is likely to have maintained publicly that he is under contract to prevent drawing attention to his own future amid Manchester City’s pursuit of a domestic treble in the final weeks of the season.

City’s title race fate is not in their own hands however, and the Blues will need a favour from Crystal Palace and outgoing Eagles boss Oliver Glasner on Sunday to stand a chance of giving Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Guardiola a title winning send-off at the Etihad Stadium.