Pep Guardiola is, possibly, going to achieve his short-term targets at Manchester City this season. If he can win the Premier League which, in actual fact, is now his to lose, and win the Champion’s League, then it will be job done.
Will he then still be motivated to try and repeat the feat whilst adding maybe the Super Cup and an FA Cup or two over the next couple of seasons? Maybe, maybe not.
At Barcelona, once he felt he had taken the team as far as he could he became bored. He wanted a fresh challenge and went to Bayern Münich where, compared with the previous manager who had won the treble, he actually failed.
The interesting aspect of his taking the Bayern job was that many people thought at the time it was just a stepping stone to him taking over at The Etihad and his trials and tribulations in Germany did nothing to make him want to extend his stay there.
Another interesting aspect was that Ferran Soriano, one of his staunchest allies at Barcelona had left the club and was now in Manchester trying to put together a project to attract the now-Manchester City manager, which was to take, coincidentally, the two years Guardiola spent in Germany.
Of course there are differences between what he achieved at Barcelona and what he is trying to achieve at City. Winning the Premier League, for a start, is considered to be far more difficult than winning La Liga or the Bundesliga due to the increased competition although he appears to have that one under control.
The Manchester City job, as we said earlier, is more of a project than a simple “go and coach the players” type of job. City are trying to achieve global domination in the most popular sport on the planet and are well on the way to doing just that!
Guardiola may well feel that this club can offer him different types of challenges every year and there is also still the age-old question of, “if I leave here then where do I go”?
Barring any major fall-outs or a dramatic downturn in fortunes, Guardiola may very well be in Manchester for quite a while yet.
José Mourinho is another one not known for staying too long in one place although he has hinted that he would like to remain at Old Trafford for the long run.
He has also flirted with PSG but that was at a time when he was conveying a message to the United board about how important he was and what a loss he would be. Whether or not it had the desired effect is debatable but we may see over the coming months.
He is another one who is almost obsessed with winning trophies, indeed that goal is second only to him feeling wanted and important because, as with most great coaches, his ego is almost as big as Manchester United.
He doesn’t appear to be too bothered by losing the occasional game or even going out of competitions but his jealousy soon rises if his opponents dare celebrate a victory over his team. He is also very quick to remind people of his past victories and trophies in a way that suggests winning is far more important to him than he is prepared to admit.
If he is at an age whereby he is looking to settle down at a club where he can continue his successful career, then he will find none better than United and, if he was prepared to move his family to Manchester he, and they, will quickly find it is far more amenable than London, (just ask Juan Mata or Kevin De Bruyne).
If he just wants to win silverware at different clubs then he will move on but the question then is; when?
He hasn’t yet won a major trophy with United and is unlikely to win the title this season. He has an outside chance in the Champion’s League but, if he can beat Sevilla, needs a favourable draw and, at some stage, one of the favourites to be out of form because he will have to play one of them eventually.
So the two managers could be around for a while but, if one of them were to leave, it looks as though that one would be José Mourinho as things are at present.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 