Pep Guardiola has been tipped to ‘walk away’ from Manchester City early this season by a Premier League pundit, who has rated their top-four chances.
City had a much poorer season last term than they are used to. After winning the Premier League in each of the last four seasons, the Citizens finished third in the league.
At one stage, City lost four Premier League games on the spin – Guardiola’s worst record ever. There was a lot of speculation that he could leave on be sacked during that period, but he and City put that to bed when he penned a new deal two games into the four-match losing streak.
Though they have had a good summer in terms of recruits – with Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, James Trafford and Marcus Bettinelli joining – it is felt that Guardiola could decide to pack it in this season.
That’s according to Leon Osman, who as his bold prediction for the season on the Premier League website stated: ‘Pep Guardiola to walk away from Man City before Christmas’.
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He did not go into detail on why he felt that would happen, he simply stated that it would.
Osman does, though, feel City will have relative success without Guardiola once he has left. Indeed, as his top four for the season, he picked: Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City.
Of the 10 pundits who were asked for their predictions, every single one had City in their top four.
City featured in one more category on the predictions, with both Shay Given and Matt Holland feeling Erling Haaland would finish as the league’s top scorer at the end of the season. Given explained, stating: ‘he just doesn’t stop scoring’.
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Haaland scored 22 goals last season, and only Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak bagged more than him.
In the two seasons prior, Haaland was by far the top scorer in the league, bagging 36 goals in his first season, with the next most of 30, and he then scored 27 goals in his second campaign, as Cole Palmer finished second with 22.
Should City get back towards winning the title, Haaland will surely have a say in it. For now, it would seem Guardiola is likely to remain at the helm to the end of his contract, in 2027, but if things don’t go his way, there may be a chance he leaves the club.
On the upcoming season, Guardiola said: “We are ready. We have a short pre-season but a really good one and are ready to go and enjoy the moment and bounce back.”
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