Some curious quotes from Pep Guardiola in a midweek press conference got the rumour mill up and running, with the Catalan seemingly suggesting that he would leave to take the Barcelona job if a call were to come in from the Camp Nou.
However, Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has clarified his coach’s comments, pointing out that Guardiola said he’d only consider that step up if he were an assistant coach.
That makes more sense because he was discussing the logic behind Mikel Arteta leaving the Manchester City assistant’s job to return and take full charge of Arsenal.
“No, I don’t think [Guardiola joining Barcelona] is possible,” Soriano said, speaking to DAZN at the Girona vs Barcelona game.
“If you actually listen to Guardiola‘s statements, he says ‘if I were assistant coach at Manchester City…’, but he’s not an assistant coach, he is the head coach at City.
“So, I’m sure that he won’t go to Barcelona or anywhere else in the next two and a half years.”