Pep Guardiola open to managing England in the future

Pep Guardiola has left open the possibility of managing England in the future, with the departing Manchester City head coach stating he has “no definite plans”.

Guardiola’s final match of a supremely successful decade leading City is Sunday’s visit of Aston Villa on the last day of the season. The 55-year-old’s plan is to take a rest and not coach. Guardiola is believed to favour international football when he does return to the game.

He was asked if the England role would be of interest. “I don’t have any absolute plan about my future,” he said. “I go to rest and recover the time I missed with my kids, even though they are grown, and do many things I’ve not done that I want to do.

“I don’t think for one second about anything related to football for the next years. I need to rest, I need to reflect, I need to see what happened in my 17, 18 years, in my time with Barcelona, in Germany [with Bayern Munich] and here.

“After, we see what happens. I didn’t do in the past stupid things that I want to do.” Asked if this was not a no, Guardiola said: “Yeah – [but] nobody cares.”

Guardiola will take up an ambassadorial role for the City Football Group, which owns Manchester City. He was asked if a return to manage City would be considered in the future. “Why you ask me that question?” said Guardiola. “For a while, I will not be a manager. That is the only thing. Otherwise I would be here, still here. I deserve, honestly, to take a break.”

Guardiola leaves with there still to be a verdict on 115 charges of financial wrongdoing levelled against City by the Premier League. City deny all of these, which are alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2018. Guardiola has previously defended the club and was asked if he may speak once the charges are decided.

“If you find me, yeah. But it will be difficult,” said Guardiola. “[I defended] because I trust them [the club] and I spoke with them and I trust how they behave and what they did. Nobody of the staff, the backroom staff, many of the players was not here.”