Misconstrued comments from Pep Guardiola have led to speculation he could leave Manchester City to return to Barcelona.
Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has made it clear Pep Guardiola won’t be leaving the Etihad for the next two-and-a-half years at least.
Soriano has felt obliged to put an end to speculation surrounding Guardiola’s future after some quotes from the City boss were misconstrued this week. Ahead of City’s blockbuster clash with Arsenal on Friday, Guardiola was discussing how Mikel Arteta had left his role as Blues assistant coach to return to his former club as manager.
It’s a decision Guardiola completely understood and said that if he was in an assistant role at City he would have jumped at the chance to join a club he loves and used to captain: Barcelona. “Everyone has dreams. I know he went to his club, a supporter, he was a captain there,” he said.
“He loves the club. I remember here when we score goals he jumps a lot except one team. He was sitting there. It was Arsenal. I said that guy likes Arsenal. Like here if I’m training as assistant and Barcelona call me, I go. People have to fly when he believes is the best. To players, if they are not happy they have to leave, life is too short.”
Those quotes have been twisted and presented without context throughout social media to make it seem as though Guardiola would leave his post as City manager to return to Camp Nou tomorrow if he got the call. This is despite the City boss signing a new deal with the club just a few months ago.
As a result, Soriano was asked about Guardiola’s chances of taking over at Barcelona and he took the opportunity to set the record straight. “No, I don’t think is possible,” he told DAZN at Barcelona’s win over Girona on Saturday.
“If you actually listen to Guardiola’s statements, he says ‘if I were assistant coach at Manchester City…’, but he’s not an assistant coach, he is the head coach at City.
“So, I’m sure that he won’t go to Barcelona or anywhere else in the next two-and-a-half years.”
