Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has claimed Pep Guardiola tried to quit the club multiple times before his eventual exit from the club after the 2025/26 season.
Guardiola called time on his decade-long stint at Manchester City after losing out on the Premier League title to Arsenal in the 2025/26 season. He ended his stint as the most successful manager in the club’s history.
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Club chairman Al Mubarak claimed that the Catalan coach threatened to quit many times during his 10 year spell with the club. He said (via GOAL):
“Inevitably we have had a lot of ups and some downs and in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years,” Al Mubarak revealed. “There is the story as you all know, The Boy that Cries Wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. You don’t take it that seriously – you have to manage him.”
Al Mubarak then spoke in detail about the relationship he shared with Guardiola and how he convinced him to stay whenever he threatened to leave Manchester City.
“He’s more than just the manager of the club,” Al Mubarak said. “To me, he’s a friend. Over these years we have become close friends and I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist. Throughout these years, I’ve always fought it and always brought him back because I knew that was always the answer.”
When asked who the successor of Guardiola will be, Al Mubarak asked fans to remain patient and trust the club while they deliberate.
“Just be patient with us. Very soon we will announce it and you will be comfortable that we have selected and brought in the best manager possible.”
Manchester City chairman sheds light on Guardiola’s exit from the club
In the same interview, Al Mubarak claimed that he knew Guardiola’s time at Manchester City was coming to an end. He said:
“But in this particular one, I think he knew – and I knew that he knew – and that is why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing. He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years.
“So in his mind, even year four and five it was always: ‘OK, how much more time? How much more time?’ And it always had to be done in the correct way. There was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.”
Edited by Vignesh Raja
