Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted he will still be at the club even if they’re relegated ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Tottenham.
The Spaniard signed a two-year contract extension earlier this week, ending uncertainty over his future in the process.
City are currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Premier League, having been slapped with 115 charges.
They continue to deny any wrongdoing, however, and Guardiola has now insisted he will remain at the Etihad Stadium – no matter what.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted he will still be at the club even if they’re relegated ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Tottenham.
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“I said that six months ago,” he said. “If we get relegated, I will be here and next year we’re going to come up to the Premier League.
“I knew it then, I feel it now.”
Guardiola had been widely expected to leave City prior to penning an extension.
But he performed a U-turn having been convinced that it remains the right club for him at this stage of his managerial career.
Explaining his decision to stay, Guardiola added: “I felt I should stay here.
“Of course, because they want me. For obvious reasons, for the results and because we’ve known each other for a long time.
“All my decisions have been like that, what I feel in the moment.
“I don’t pre-convince, I wait. I decided to stay here and in just two hours we did it (agreed the contract).”
Guardiola, when quizzed further, then joked that it was because he loves the weather in Manchester.
He also suggested that he didn’t want his own future to be a distraction at a time when his club are fighting for silverware.
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“For the weather,” he added.
“Mainly, I don’t want next season in September, October, November, to be ‘is this the last year of Pep? Will he extend again?’ That was the main reason, I don’t want to be in that position.
“In the end, the contract is there. I would like to stay two more years, but I know that if results are not good it won’t be two years.
“It’s the same with the players. We have some incredible, legendary players here but you have to perform.
“If you don’t perform, our owner, chairman and fans will say ‘what’s going on? We have to change’. Everyone is under pressure, with me the first.
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“Maybe it’s a little bit arrogant but I think we deserve to continue, for what we have done in the last years.
“But at the same time, we have to do it again, we have to be up there. If we’re not, the club has to find a solution.”
City go into their clash with Tottenham on the back of four straight losses.
That, Guardiola says, has hurt. Yet the Spaniard has also insisted his team remain capable of winning the league for the fifth year in a row.
“When you are here for nine years, with a long time at one club, you live all the scenarios, all the situations,” he said.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola is hopeful his side can turn their patchy form around as Saturday’s clash with Tottenham looms
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“You’re able to lose four games in a row, but at the same time you’re able to win four Premier Leagues in a row.
“The difference is that most of the teams are able to lose four games in a row in different competitions but just one team won four Premier Leagues in a row. So it’s happened.
“Did it happen in one season? No. When you’ve been somewhere eight or nine years, yeah, both sides of the run can happen.”