Manuel Pellegrini, 61, will be Manchester City manager for at least the next two seasons. Well, that’s what his contract says.
Failure to win trophies and Pep Guardiola cast shadows over his future at the Etihad Stadium. Guardiola is in the final year of his contract with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard has close links to former City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain, both of whom he worked with at Barcelona.
Pelligrini recognises the pressure:
Every team will want Pep Guardiola to manage them, because he’s a great manager. He’s linked with this team more because of the connection he has with Txiki and Ferran. But I trust in them, and I am sure if they want to bring in Pep, they will tell me.
Adding:
The contract shows the club trusts in my work.
He’s confident, telling Sky Sports:
I am absolutely sure that we are going to have a very successful season. We must bring back the title to our fans. We are sure that we are going to bring it back. We had a good pre-season.
No top manager can rest on his laurels. Pelligrini considers the lot of Carlo Ancelotti, sacked by Real Madrid last May, a year after leading them to Champions’ League glory:
I think I would like to be here a long time but it’s impossible in this job. One year ago there were some important managers like Ancelotti who are now not at the same team. As a professional it’s very difficult to talk about long term. But if you ask me, of course I think I can continue working here for the long term.
Not if he makes mistakes, he won’t:
When I don’t get the results I want, I am the first person to criticise myself. I did some things that I analysed afterwards and realised that maybe I made a mistake. That’s human. I don’t think managers make perfect decisions in every game. What I think is private, though.
City begin their push for the Premier League title at West Brom on Monday.