Pep Guardiola 'No Closer' to Agreeing New Manchester City Deal
Despite reports to the contrary, Pep Guardiola is said to be 'no closer' to agreeing a contract extension at Manchester City with his current deal set to expire in the summer.
The 49-year-old is currently in his fifth season in Manchester, the longest he has spent at a club during his managerial career to date. Guardiola is the most successful City coach in history, having won two Premier League titles, three EFL Cups and an FA Cup over the course of his tenure.
His charges have endured a tricky start to this season though, failing to win four of their opening seven games - a record that leaves them tenth in the Premier League.
Despite that indifferent start, 90min revealed at the end of October that Man City had entered negotiations with their coach over a new contract, although they were also keeping their options open in case he decided to end his stay in England.
On Sunday, The Telegraph reported that Guardiola was edging closer to agreeing a new deal and that those close to him believe he is more likely to remain in the north west than look to pastures new, having been linked with returns to former clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
However, Goal now claim that the coveted Catalan is 'no closer' to putting pen to paper on an extension, with the hectic Premier League and Champions League fixture schedules getting in the way of talks with the club's hierarchy.
The report states that any new deal would likely only be a 12-month extension, with the City boss having no intention of emulating Premier League legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger in dedicating decades to the club.
Guardiola recently indicated that he did hope to extend his stay beyond the end of the current campaign, though. "I'm incredibly happy here, delighted to be in Manchester and hopefully I can do a good job this season to stay longer,” he said at the end of October.
From the club's perspective, they are extremely keen for Guardiola to pen new terms and they could be ready to prove their commitment by making a move for Lionel Messi in January. According to the Sun, City are ready to capitalise on Barcelona's diabolical finances and try and prise Messi away for as little as £50m.
Barça recently failed to agree a wage reduction with their top stars and need to cut around £171m from their playing budget urgently. Getting Messi's mammoth salary off the books would go along to achieving that and his arrival at the Etihad Stadium would likely convince Guardiola to stick around.
It has been reported that if he does decide to walk away at the end of the season, RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann and former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino are among the favourites to take over.