Pep Guardiola threatened to quit Manchester City “100 times”, according to chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
Guardiola left City at the end of the season after 10 years at the Etihad Stadium, saying that he knew he would not have enough energy to continue in the job.
Al Mubarak, in his annual end-of-season interview with club media, says that he became Guardiola’s “psychiatrist” over the years, not least because of the Catalan’s emotional reaction to bad moments when he threatened to walk out.
“I will say that he’s more than just the manager of the club — to me, he’s a friend,” Al Mubarak said.
“We are close friends. And I will say, and I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist. I had to help him over the years. Not in the good times — the good times is easy – it’s always the challenging part. And inevitably over these last ten years, we’ve had a lot of ups and some downs. And in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these ten years, just so you know, just for the record.
“There’s 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. 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, ‘Okay, how much more time?’
“Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time — where it’s actually
the real moment Pep decides actually, it’s time.”
Al Mubarak said “did not fight at all” when it came to Guardiola’s decision to leave City this summer, “because I knew this was the time he actually meant it.”
Enzo Maresca is set to replace Guardiola this summer and while Al Mubarak did not name the Italian, who worked at City as the Under-23’s manager and as Guardiola’s assistant, the chairman says an official announcement is on the way.
“I think what I can say at the moment is we’ve gone through a very thoughtful and structured process and the team is convinced – and I am convinced, rest assured – that we will bring in the right manager for this club,” he said. “Just be patient with us. Very soon, we’ll announce it and you will be very comfortable that we have selected and brought in the best manager possible for this club.”
