Pep Guardiola Threatens to Quit Manchester City

Declaring he will resign should the team not be reduced before next season, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has sent a severe warning to the hierarchy of the club.

After being had to exclude five top players from City’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium, the Spaniard voiced irritation. According to Guardiola, he wants a smaller group for next season; else, he will leave the team since he finds it challenging to exclude top players.

“I told the club I object to that. Five or six players left in the tribune is unacceptable,” Guardiola added.

“I have no desire for that. I’m going to quit. Shorten the squad; I will stay. My soul cannot offer [leave] my players in the tribune; they cannot play.”

Rico Lewis, Savinho, Abdukodir Khusanov, James McAtee, and Claudio Echeverri were among the players taken off from the matchday roster.

In the FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday, Guardiola also made difficult selection decisions to support his view that the team is overly big. After City’s first trophyless season since 2017, Guardiola is now rebuilding and aiming for a reduced roster to preserve emotional harmony and competitive balance inside the team.

“When everyone is fit, I don’t want 24, 25, 26 players,” he remarked. “If I am unlucky and get injuries. We do it knowing that we have some academy guys here.

“We cannot sustain for the emotion of the club, the soul of the team, create another connection with each other that this season we lost it a bit,” he said.