Man City: Ornstein reveals what his ‘checks’ revealed about Guardiola’s future

Pep Guardiola is likely to sign a one-year extension as Manchester City manager, according to David Ornstein.

The Spanish manager is out of contract next summer and was recently linked with the England job before the FA handed it to Thomas Tuchel.

It has been ridiculously successful Man Citywinning six Premier League titles in eight years, as well as two FA Cups, four EFL Cups, three Community Shields and the Champions League.

Rival clubs will be waiting Guardiola leaves but it seems unlikely, despite the announcement that the director of football Txiki Begiristain will resign at the end of 2024/25.

There were rumors at the start of the season that the 53-year-old would not be extending his contract, although there was “no evidence to support that”.

Ornstein said in a Q&A in May: “I don’t think a decision has been made. As you know from last time, Guardiola tends to leave it quite late before committing. There is a feeling around the industry that he will leave in the summer of 2025, but I currently have no evidence to back that up.”

“Abundantly clear” Pep Guardiola will extend Man City’s contract with Ornstein

Speaking this week, transfer expert Ornstein said that after doing “a few checks”, it was “abundantly clear” that Guardiola will sign a one-year contract extension at the Etihad.

“Pep Guardiola was in no position to commit at the time and so the FA would have had to adapt their plans accordingly,” Ornstein said. NBC Sports.

“When the story about Guardiola came out about a week ago, I did some checking and it became very clear to me that Pep Guardiola was more likely to extend Man City for a year than anything else, including the England job.

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“He always tends to leave his decision quite late. I broke the news in November 2022 that he would sign his last contract, so he was approaching his last six months.

“And you have to remember that Txiki Begiristain is leaving, he is the sporting director.

“Pep Guardiola has said: ‘Part of me is leaving’, but this has been interpreted as ‘Part of me is staying’.

“So maybe we haven’t seen the end of Pep Guardiola at City.”

There has been much speculation about what it would mean for Guardiola and his players to be found guilty of City’s 115 financial charges.

A report of The Athletic he said last week Pep actually ‘more likely’ to extend if Premier League champions found guilty and relegated to League Two, for example.

The report said: “The fact that he is considering staying should also dispel any idea that his future is in any way linked to the outcome of the charges.

“In fact, sources familiar with Guardiola believe that if City were found guilty and severely punished, he would be more likely to sign an extension.

“That would be partly out of defiance and partly to not leave a club he has loved in a difficult place.”