- Pep Guardiola leaves Manchester City
- Can Manchester United capitalise?
- Who will take over the role of Manchester City manager?
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will leave his role this summer, with former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca expected to replace one of the greatest coaches the sport has ever seen.
A host of sources—most notably Oliver Holt of the Daily Mail and David Ornstein of The Athletic—have confirmed Guardiola’s departure with two matches remaining in Manchester City’s season.
Across a 10-year spell, the Spaniard has become one of the defining figures English football has ever witnessed.
In those 10 seasons, Guardiola has lifted the league title on six occasions, making him the second most successful manager in Premier League history, and joint-second in the history of England’s top division alongside George Ramsay and Bob Paisley.
That does not even include the current campaign, in which City have fallen short in the title race, missing out on becoming champions to Arsenal. Still, Guardiola’s dominance across England is practically beyond dispute, having won 17 domestic trophies, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Club World Cup.
He has hit 100 points in a league season, became the first English side to complete a domestic treble, and guided City to become just the second English club to complete a continental treble. Now, the curtain finally falls on his reign.
Pep Guardiola’s dominance
After a decade of terror, domination, and downright suffocation, Guardiola’s chapter has finally come to a close—and as a Manchester United fan, I cannot pretend there is not a smile creeping onto my face.
You have to respect Guardiola immensely. He is, without question, one of, if not the, greatest managers we have ever watched. A tactical obsessive and a footballing architect, he has engineered his way to six Premier League titles in just 10 seasons.
And when you zoom in specifically on Manchester, the picture becomes even harsher for United. There have been moments.
Scott McTominay thundering one in from 30 yards to seal a 2-0 derby win just before football shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul Pogba orchestrating that stunning 3-2 comeback at the Etihad to delay City’s title celebrations.
The 2024 FA Cup final, where United’s academy boys ripped through a seemingly untouchable City side to lift the club’s first FA Cup since 2016. But overall, it has been relentless punishment from the noisy neighbours.
In 28 matches, United have suffered 14 defeats, four draws and 10 wins. At face value, it does not read catastrophically.
Yet statistics alone do not capture the feeling of that era. The 6-3 humiliation, where both Erling Haaland and Phil Foden struck hat-tricks. The 2023 FA Cup final, where United looked second-best for long stretches as City marched toward matching United’s historic treble.
And then there is the broader reality. United have not finished above City once during Guardiola’s reign—in fact, not once since Alex Ferguson retired.
City have lifted 17 major honours under Guardiola. The Reds have won four.
The context around that dominance matters too. Guardiola built an extraordinary side, but he also did so inside a football operation fuelled by near-limitless state wealth, where financial gravity bends differently to almost every other club in Europe.
When mistakes are made, they can simply buy again. When squads age, they regenerate instantly. Very few institutions in football history have operated with that level of financial insulation.
One of the only victories United supporters can still cling onto is that Guardiola’s favourite actress, Julia Roberts, famously ignored City to visit her favourite football club instead—Manchester United.
What does this mean for Manchester United?
For the first time in nearly a decade, Manchester United may finally sense vulnerability at the top of English football.
Arsenal still sit ahead of United, as do City, and the Gunners are now champions for the first time in over 20 years. They also play in their first Champions League final in as many years.
But this Arsenal side, as impressive as it has been, does not carry the same aureole that Guardiola’s City once did. They will finish among the 10 lowest points totals of any Premier League-winning side.
Even if they lose on the final day and still secure the crown, they would sit joint-sixth lowest amongst modern champions. That is worlds away from the 91, 93, 98, and 100-point monsters Guardiola assembled at City.
Regardless of Arsenal’s final tally, they will still fail to match any of Guardiola’s title-winning seasons. The fewest points Guardiola has ever accumulated whilst winning the Premier League is 86.
If City win one of their final two matches, Guardiola will have finished below 80 points just twice in a decade. This Arsenal side is excellent. But it is still some distance away from entering the conversation of the greatest teams English football has produced.
That does not suddenly mean Manchester United will storm to their first title since 2013 next season.
Arsenal remain ahead. City—even without Guardiola—remains ahead. Liverpool arguably still possesses a stronger squad too, despite a disappointing title defence.
But for the first time in years, United may finally smell blood in the water.
Of course, it could all amount to nothing. Maresca may not exactly strike fear into rival supporters—just ask Chelsea fans—but he will still inherit a machine financed by the ruling Abu Dhabi establishment under Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose wealth stretches into the hundreds of billions, backed further by sovereign investment structures worth well over a trillion.
A football club sustained by the financial power of a state will always remain a force capable of reshaping the landscape around it.
Guardiola’s exit, however, comes with the backdrop of Manchester City’s 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations still hanging over the club, with the verdict yet to be communicated.
With a year still left on his contract, it is almost too tempting to wonder if the timing means more than it appears. But then, maybe it does not.
Maybe Guardiola has simply reached the natural end of a cycle after a decade of relentless dominance. But when one of the greatest managers football has ever seen walks away with uncertainty still looming over the club, minds will naturally wander toward what may still come to light.
For all the brilliance Guardiola brought to English football—and there is no denying the brilliance—the conversation around this City era will never fully escape the shadow of those charges until the situation is resolved.
United still have a mountain to climb, and there is no guarantee football will ever see dominance like the Ferguson era again. But mountains are there to be climbed.
And after years spent watching City disappear into the distance—fuelled by bottomless state-backed wealth and one of football’s greatest minds—Manchester United may finally have struck their first pickaxe into the rock.
