EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThere had been signs for a while that Pep Guardiola was preparing to leave Manchester City. His departure this summer was finally confirmed on Friday morning, but it came after plenty of foreshadowing.Take his appearance at Edgeley Park for Stockport County's third-tier fixture against Port Vale at the end of April.The official reason given for the surprise visit was that the Manchester City manager had promised Stockport owner, Mark Stott -- Guardiola's landlord -- that he would attend a game. The joke answer delivered by Guardiola at a news conference three days later was that he had nothing else to do that night because, in his words, the Champions League semifinal first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich -- which ended 5-4 and was considered by many to be an instant classic -- was a "s--- game."Those closest to Guardiola, however, suggested there was more to it, and that his surprise visit was more about his deep love of English football developed over a decade in the U.K.Often when there's been a break in his schedule, the 55-year-old has jetted back to Spain and his home city of Barcelona. But knowing that his time at City was coming to an end and that he was running out of time to honor Stott's offer, he chose to spend his day off in Stockport, taking the opportunity to sample a lower-league atmosphere as a fan.Guardiola confirmed on Friday that Sunday's game against Aston Villa will be his last after 10 trophy-laden years at the Etihad Stadium. While the Premier League will miss him, City fans especially, the fabric of football in England is one of the things he will miss most.He has a fondness for traditional stadiums like Selhurst Park, built more than 100 years ago in the middle of a south London housing estate. He liked Goodison Park, too, before Everton relocated to Hill Dickinson Stadium.Guardiola's love of the FA Cup comes, in part, from the competition sending big teams to places like Leyton Orient and Swansea City. He likes old-school, backstreet stadiums, the small dressing rooms and hostile receptions. He has said in the past he particularly enjoys the ferocious chants of "Who are you? Who are you?" as he stands on the touchline.England has left its mark on Guardiola. His influence on English football also stretches to every outpost he has visited with City over the years and beyond.Sitting in Manchester's Opera House in August 2024, Guardiola was waiting for Phil Foden to receive his PFA Player of the Year trophy when EFL stalwart Dean Lewington was ushered on stage to accept an award of his own. Lewington, who spent more than 20 years at MK Dons, was asked by the interviewer about the biggest change he had seen during his time in the English lower leagues.Lewington paused for a second and pointed at Guardiola. "We always speak about the things he was doing and his ideas," he said. "Whether he realizes it or not, he's had a huge influence on the way the whole game here has evolved."Guardiola is too astute not to have seen his own tactical adaptations drip down the league, but he has never been comfortable talking about himself. He doesn't consider personal impact as a significant achievement or, for that matter, rate 20 trophies at City as his biggest accomplishment at the club.Instead, it's consistency he values over everything else.Since arriving in Manchester in 2016, Guardiola has never finished lower than third in the Premier League. Liverpool have won two titles during Guardiola's decade at City, but have also finished outside the top three on three occasions during the same period.In 2022-23, under Jurgen Klopp -- considered by Guardiola to be his toughest opponent -- Liverpool finished fifth and failed to qualify for the Champions League. City have never missed out under Guardiola.To Guardiola, that steadiness is everything. It's why he values his five Carabao Cup successes so highly, as well as eight consecutive appearances in the FA Cup semifinals and four finals in a row between 2023 and 2026. Why does he rate them so much? Because his view is that in cup competitions, one bad day can end your challenge; under Guardiola, City have very rarely had them and he has taken the team to Wembley for finals and semifinals a remarkable 24 times.It's his opinion that the success of individual campaigns should not be graded on the number of cups won, but rather whether the team has behaved in the right way to compete. It's what Guardiola will remember most from his time at City.Everyone else, however, will remember the trophies.In December 2023, after lifting the FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, he completed the set of every major piece of silverware available to him as City boss. Yet it also marked the beginning of the end of his time at the Etihad.Looking weary as he sat down in the media theater at the King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh, Guardiola said he had "closed a chapter." It was delivered in such a way that at one point the club media officer sitting alongside him glanced nervously in Pep's direction, as if there was a genuine fear that the mercurial manager could resign on the spot.He didn't, of course, but those in the room went away with the feeling, for the first time, that his energy and motivation were starting to wane.City had an issue in that the extension Guardiola signed in November 2022 ran until June 2025 -- a summer in which the club had commitments in the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup. Behind the scenes, executives made it clear that the timing of the tournament would make any handover to a new manager incredibly difficult. In the end, City's poor 2024-25 campaign prompted Guardiola to agree to a new contract, but there was surprise internally that the deal was for two extra years rather than one.City have known for a while that despite being under contract until 2027, Guardiola had earmarked the summer of 2026 as the point when he would reassess his position. Ultimately, a break clause in his deal, which is active this summer, has allowed Guardiola to walk away.The extra year on his contract has also served as a useful buffer for Guardiola as questions about his future have mounted since the turn of the year. "I have one more year on my contract," became his stock response.Given City's relationship with Guardiola, they were always confident he would give them enough time to plan for his departure. They were right; club bosses have been aware for some time that this could be his last season and it has allowed the hunt for a successor to run relatively smoothly.Conversations with Enzo Maresca, a former Guardiola assistant at City, have been taking place since his time at Chelsea. His departure from Stamford Bridge in January made the pursuit easier, and sources have told ESPN that the Italian rebuffed opportunities to speak to other clubs, including Napoli, in the hope that he was destined for the Etihad.As someone who has worked for City in the past, knowing the demands and expectations of the club while also having an existing relationship with the likes of Erling Haaland, Rodri and Rben Dias, Maresca is considered the perfect fit to follow Guardiola.Privately, City are acknowledging how tough a task Maresca faces.In recent years, both Manchester United and Arsenal have shown how hard it is to replace a legendary manager. United's era of domination in the 1990s and 2000s ended immediately after Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013, and sustained success is yet to return more than a decade later.Arsenal have won their first league title in 22 years and are well-placed to defend it next season, but City feel they are better positioned than their rivals were when it comes to surviving the shockwaves of Guardiola's exit. Before leaving, Guardiola has overseen the transition away from the treble-winning squad of 2023 that included derson, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gndogan and Kevin De Bruyne. Two more stalwarts of Pep's best sides -- Bernardo Silva and John Stones -- will also leave this summer.In their place is a young squad built around Phil Foden, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O'Reilly and Rayan Cherki. Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guhi, signed in January, already have two trophies under their belt thanks to successes in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup this season.There is no need for major surgery this summer. Elliot Anderson is a key target to bolster the midfield, but there won't be wholesale changes.On the pitch, City's future looks bright. Off it, the reverberations of any potential punishment stemming from the 115 Premier League charges place a gigantic unknown over what the club's next era might look like. Either way, City will move forward in the image of the Catalan coach.Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Guardiola laughed off a suggestion he has done for City what his mentor, Johan Cruyff, had done for Barcelona by shaping an entire club. "He changed the mentality," Guardiola said. It was an attempt to prove the comparison was wide of the mark, while perhaps not realizing he could have easily been describing his own impact.Whether he wants to accept it or not, Guardiola leaves behind a club and a country that are forever changed.
