“I cannot disappoint them” – Pep Guardiola makes rebuild admission amid Manchester City future doubt | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted that the challenge of rebuilding makes him motivated to keep improving in management.

The Catalan will be out of contract at the Etihad Stadium next summer and there has been talk of a potential parting of ways between City and Guardiola at the end of the current season.

Guardiola has repeatedly brushed off talk of a premature exit but there is a growing belief in Premier League circles that it is likelier than ever that the 55-year-old calls it a day at the end of the campaign.

Equally, executives at the Etihad Stadium are understood to have accepted that Guardiola is unlikely to renew his contract again, with a decision on the final year of his current deal expected to be made in the summer.

City are in the running for an unprecedented quadruple this term and ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League meeting with Nottingham Forest, Guardiola was asked whether the constant challenges and need to adapt may keep him so motivated enough that there is still a long time left of him at Manchester City.

“I know what the intention of your question is – the fact how (the game) evolves, if every change the opponent makes to you or you to them, makes me feel alive? Yes, absolutely (it’s a new challenge),” Guardiola said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s like managing new players, they come and I cannot disappoint them. They don’t know us, they don’t know me and what they have to do, of course. Of course it’s a challenge. Of course it is.

“And being there again, for one more season again we are there, competing, we are closer to qualifying for the Champions League, the gap with sixth is quite important right now, so if we continue to do that we’ll be in next season’s the Champions League again – the only team in England that has done in the last 10, 11, 12 years.

“I said many times, qualifying for the Champions League today, in modern football for the club is the most important title, more than the Premier Leagues, more than many, many things. For sustainability, for many, many reasons.”

Guardiola was further asked whether he is more energetic than he was earlier in the season. Picking up and glancing at a Lucozade bottle on his desk, he added: “No, I’ve been quite energetic.

“Yeah, it was good. I’ve been good. I don’t know you, all of you, but I’m not happy all the time during the day. I’m not energetic 24/7. No, there are moments I’m more down. But yeah. After that I’m better. The important thing is the moment of the game, the day before the game, the game, I’m fine. I’m still, ‘Yeah, Pep, well done’. So still I’m here.”

Guardiola will be relaxed on his future at City despite the constant noise and will be reminding his players to remain focused and take every game as it comes in the remainder of the campaign.