Pep Guardiola, the man who has spent a decade making Manchester City look like they're playing a different sport than everyone else, has hinted that he might one day manage England - because apparently, he hasn't suffered enough yet.
With City's final match of the season - a Sunday visit from Aston Villa - looming, the 55-year-old is planning to take a break and not coach, which he insists is a definite plan, even if he has no definite plans. Guardiola is reportedly leaning toward international football when he eventually returns, which is code for 'I want to manage a team that plays once every few months and has no transfer window.'
When asked directly if the England job appeals to him, Guardiola offered a masterclass in non-commitment: 'I don't have any absolute plan about my future. I go to rest and recover the time I missed with my kids, even though they are grown, and do many things I've not done that I want to do.' He added that he needs to reflect on his 17 or 18 years coaching Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and City - and that he hasn't done 'stupid things' he wants to do yet, which is either intriguing or concerning.
Pressed on whether this counts as a 'no,' Guardiola conceded, 'Yeah - [but] nobody cares.' He's not wrong, but we care enough to write about it.
After his sabbatical, Guardiola will take up an ambassadorial role for the City Football Group - the same organization that owns the club he's leaving. When asked if he might return to manage City, he responded with the weary exasperation of a man who has been asked this 47 times: 'For a while, I will not be a manager. That is the only thing. Otherwise I would be here, still here. I deserve, honestly, to take a break.'
Guardiola departs with the club facing 115 charges of financial wrongdoing from the Premier League, alleged to have occurred between 2009 and 2018 - charges City denies. Asked if he might speak once the verdict arrives, Guardiola said, 'If you find me, yeah. But it will be difficult.' He defended the club because he trusts them, he says, despite the fact that 'nobody of the staff, the backroom staff, many of the players was not here' - which is either a grammatical slip or a subtle admission that everyone involved has already fled the scene.