Pep Guardiola has always sought challenges at every stage of his coaching career. From moving from Barcelona B to the Barcelona first team after just one season, to leading Bayern Munich or conquering the Premier League with Manchester City, he has achieved greatness.
On his first day at the Etihad in 2016, Guardiola admitted that despite winning countless titles in Spain and Germany, there were still many questions when he moved to England. And in the end, the 54-year-old captain answered with 18 titles in 9 years with Man City.
However, amid the fluctuations at the Etihad as well as all of English football, Guardiola is facing the prospect of having to answer that question once again. And in his challenging career, this is perhaps one of his biggest challenges ever.
If everything had gone in a different direction, Guardiola would have enjoyed his pension in the Maldives or on a golf course in Portugal. But he chose to stay at the Etihad. Partly because he started last season and was left empty-handed for the second consecutive campaign, he did not want to leave Manchester in chaos.
Guardiola also realized that handing over the club to his successor would be much more favorable if it took place in a peaceful summer, instead of being pressured by the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
After extending his contract until 2027, Guardiola immediately started rebuilding another championship team. It's just that the current context is very different.
In the squad that Guardiola used in the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul 2 years ago, there were 15 players - including Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan - who are no longer present or have left.
The change does not stop at personnel. In addition to facing a large-scale reform of the force, Guardiola is also trying to adapt to the shift in the balance of power in the Premier League.
At one point last season, when talking about the success of Newcastle, Bournemouth or Brighton, Guardiola admitted: "Modern football is not a position, you have to keep up with the rhythm". This is a remarkable statement from the person who built the Citizens' empire based on a strict framework on location and movement.
After the defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League in February, he also frankly said that "his art is not as effective as before". However, at the beginning of this season, Guardiola affirmed that he "never gave up confidence" and remained loyal to the ball controlled by " Thousands, millions of passes".
However, it seems Guardiola has accepted that he is forced to change over time.
This season, Guardiola is trying to harmonize his desire to control the ball with high-altitude pressing, faster attack and direct attack - partly reflecting the trend in other tournaments. That is also the reason he chose Pep Lijnders as assistant, after the Dutch strategist played a key role in developing Jurgen Klopp's "heavy metal" style at Liverpool.
The idea of combining the quintessence of two of the most successful teams in the Premier League era sounds very attractive, but in the early stages, many problems arose.
After an impressive start with a 4-0 victory over Wolves in the opening round of the Premier League 2025-2026, Man City unexpectedly lost 2 consecutive matches. Against Tottenham and Brighton, they both conceded in the same scenario. These were quick counter-attacks, exploiting the huge space behind Man City's high defense - a result of Lijnders' pressing philosophy.
This is certainly not to be overlooked by coach Ruben Amorim ahead of the Manchester derby at the Etihad this weekend. Man City will enter the match with only 1 point in hand, 4 places behind Man United in the rankings.
The gap with defending champion Liverpool is also 6 points. And remember, The Kop have just added strength to the attack with a blockbuster £125 million contract under the name Alexander Isak.
No team since Manchester United in the 1992-1923 season has lost 2 of their opening 3 matches but still won the Premier League. Even at the start of this season, Guardiola still has a lot of work to do if he wants to regain the trophy he lifted six times in 7 years, from 2017 to 2024.
But if this season is not for Man City and Guardiola, then when is the right time? Although the contract has 2 years left, the Citizens coaching staff has stopped speculating about the day he leaves.
At Man City football academy, there are opinions that this will be Guardiola's last season. Others believe that, despite admitting that he is getting close to the end of his career, the 54-year-old strategist may still be convinced to sign a new contract.
It will all depend on Guardiola's energy, as well as the smoothness of his work relationship with Director of Football Hugo Viana, his long-time close friend.
In any case, Man City's board have soon determined that Guardiola has every right to decide how and when to leave. He himself admitted that Man City's last season was too bad, considering the set goals, to the point that if he had been at any other big club, he would have been fired.
Sir Alex Ferguson ended his 26-year tenure at Man United with the 2012-13 Premier League title. The legacy Guardiola has built at the Etihad also deserves a similar ending.
To have a perfect farewell, he needs to build another excellent team - a team capable of strong development in the new Premier League era. And that is the next big challenge for Guardiola to conquer.
