Manchester City's manager will go around next season - and possibly the year after. And for those close to the Catalan, they insist Guardiola put pen to paper yesterday knowing full well of the task that lies ahead of him.
He hinted at it late on Thursday, admitting City's four defeats on the bounce - a first for Guardiola the coach - 'might have' had an influence on his thinking over this international break: "I felt I could not leave now, simple as that.
“Don’t ask me the reason why. Maybe the four defeats were the reason why and I felt I cannot leave. I felt the club still want me or had the fact that we were together and that’s the reason why we sign."
That "we" includes his extended backroom team. Again, Guardiola feels comfortable in his job. He has a hand-picked staff around him. He has a board that has never said 'no' to him. He's been fully supported. And it has been unlike anything he's experienced in football. At Bayern Munich, there was always snipers. At Barcelona, as he discussed barely a fortnight ago, it was even worse.
"It has always been this way, and it will always be this way," he said. "It has happened to all of us. Here, the shots come from all sides, and every day. But the ones that hurt the most are the ones that come from within. There are many small wars within Barça every day.
"The contempt for what you do is constant and this ends up taking its toll on you."
Not inside City. In terms of football. Of his ambitions in the game. For Guardiola, this has been paradise. But, as he hinted yesterday, there's now a fresh challenge to be met. And it'll be the most difficult of his career.
Bernardo Silva. Kevin de Bruyne. Ilkay Gundogan. Kyle Walker. This is an ageing City team. The years are catching up on it's core. And for the moment, as talented as the squad is, there is an absence of the character and leadership in the younger players that we see from the older brigade. Of course, Ruben Dias will step up. Rodri, when back and fully fit, will do so too. But with Bernardo, De Bruyne, Gundogan and Walker all on their last legs, that's a massive void to fill inside a dressing room.
To maintain their winning position. Their winning momentum. City will need more than past surgical strikes in the market. The return of Gundogan in August offered us the growing concern amongst the City brainstrust. The plans for Martin Zubimendi, the Real Sociedad captain, in January suggests the same theme. City and Guardiola know they need more than outside talent to keep this club at the top of the game. And finding that combination of leadership and quality is a challenge the club's incoming sporting director Hugo Viana will need to overcome.
In the meantime, those close to Guardiola say the rebuild was a big influence on his decision to re-sign. There's more records to come his way, sure. But beyond all that, it's the prospect of building a new, generational team at City which is truly driving and motivating the manager.
As is the Champions League. For Pep, as for this column, City have underachieved in the competition over the past five years. One title for Guardiola with the team he has had is, frankly, not good enough. We're fans of City and Guardiola here, but his record in Europe has escaped the intense scrutiny we saw Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger experience from the local press over their eras. There's no other way to slice it, winning six Premier League titles, but just the one Champions League, in his nine years with the club isn't good enough.
Guardiola knows this. A rebuild is needed, but it's a rebuild that must be done in parallel with challenging for the Premier and Champions League.
“As long as we have good players there will be success. I think the club is targeting this," the manager also said during Thursday's signing ceremony.
“You have to remove players, bring in new ones and have a good mentality and continue the standards the Club will be in the position you have to be, not just with me in the last 10 years."
This City team, as it stands, is now past it's peak and on the decline. It's still good enough to win the Double, but Guardiola knows major change is needed to maintain their winning position.
And by signing this new two-year deal, City's manager has shown he's up for the challenge.
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