How Detrimental Will Pep Guardiola’s Announcement Be?
Pep Guardiola recently announced that he would step down from Manchester City following the 2022-23 Premier League season. Guardiola’s side has dominated English football during his five-year tenure thus far, winning three of the last four Premier League titles and amassing four Carabao Cups, two Community Shields, and a FA Cup. The Spanish coach will undoubtedly go down as one of the most prominent Premier League managers of all time, but how will his announcement affect Manchester City for the remainder of his contract?
Sir Alex Ferguson, widely regarded as the greatest Premier League manager of all time, had said in the past that one of his worst mistakes as a manager was publicly announcing his retirement before he left Manchester United. The cascading effect of his decision was massive. The managerial role of a football club is one of the most important positions to have continuity. A club can have great owners and top players, but the results won’t translate onto the pitch without a proper coach. If a manager’s long-term stability is in question, it can have drastic consequences for the club personnel – specifically active players and potential recruits.
Manchester City is a massive club, one of the largest brands in world sport. Pep Guardiola may have just throttled his ability to attract top players over the next two seasons by prematurely announcing his retirement. High price transfers that big clubs go for cost millions of dollars, and they typically sign long-term five-year contracts when joining a club. Why would a world-class player want to join a club that will soon be going through a coaching transition? Will the replacement coach favor that new signing as highly as Pep Guardiola did? Will the new player fit into the new manager’s philosophy on how to play? These are questions going through the minds of potential signings when joining a new club, especially when there is suspicion that the manager isn’t committed long term to their club.
The summer of 2022 will be a significant one for transfers. The two top young forwards in world football, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, will be looking to make massive moves to progress their careers. Mbappe’s contract with PSG runs up after this season, and Haaland’s release clause of €75 million becomes active after this season. They won’t be the only two world-class players looking for transfers either, it will be a busy transfer window!
Will Manchester City be sidelined in the transfer market the next two years because of their coach’s decision? Comment your opinions below!
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