BREAKING: Pep Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of 2025/26 season | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is set to stand down from his role at the Etihad Stadium following Sunday’s meeting with Aston Villa on the final day of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

The news follows months of speculation regarding the 55-year-old’s future, and despite telling reporters “no way” when questioned about a last-ever Wembley appearance as City manager during the FA Cup Final win against Chelsea, it appears the decision had privately been set in stone.

Manchester City’s hard-fought 1-0 Wembley victory over Chelsea – secured by an Antoine Semenyo strike – sealed yet another domestic cup double at the club, providing a perfect, and perhaps fitting curtain call for his final week in English football.

The announcement comes at a delicately poised moment as City enter a frantic final-week but somewhat desperate sprint for the Premier League crown against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Guardiola’s squad must first navigate a crucial midweek away trip to face Andoni Iraola’s high-flying Bournemouth, with the dressing room now be tasked with blocking out the monumental narrative of their manager’s departure.

Pep Guardiola’s decade-long stay at Man City to END

Now, according to MailSport’s Oliver Holt, Pep Guardiola will stand down as Manchester City manager after Sunday’s final Premier League game of the 2025/26 season against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.

It is reported that Manchester City have started to tell sponsorship partners that the announcement of the Catalan’s exit is imminent, while the news has also been an ‘open secret’ among some of those close to the 55-year-old.

Furthermore, it is expected that news of Guardiola’s exit will be confirmed ‘some time on Sunday’, in time for Pep Guardiola’s impact on the football club and English football as a whole to be celebrated at an open-top bus parade on Monday.

The seismic search for a Guardiola successor begins

With the departure of the greatest manager in the club’s history now a reality, Manchester City face a historic administrative headache as sporting director Hugo Viana must immediately trigger contingency plans to find a replacement.

Rumours are already swirling around high-profile elite coaches across Europe, but replacing a man who has collected 20 trophies over a decade remains an effectively impossible task.

The most likely candidate to take the position on from the start of the 2026/27 campaign is former Manchester City assistant coach and ex-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, whilst former captain and current Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany is hugely admired.

Before the transition begins, the immediate focus shifts to an emotional, highly charged atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday, with the clash against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa transforming from perhaps a standard final-day fixture into a monumentally historic farewell.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.