rewrite this title Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Man City chairman discusses Pep Guardiola’s exit, new manager update and summer transfer window plans

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has given an update on the club’s search for a new manager following Pep Guardiola’s exit.

It promises to be a summer of change at City after Guardiola stepped down from his head coach role after 10 years.

City are working on bringing in Enzo Maresca as Guardiola’s replacement and are in talks with the Italian’s former club Chelsea over compensation.

Speaking about the appointment of a new manager, Al Mubarak said: “I think what I can say at the moment is we’ve gone through a very thoughtful and structured process and the team is convinced – and I am convinced, rest assured – that we will bring in the right manager for this club.

“Just be patient with us. Very soon we’ll announce it and you will be very comfortable that we have selected and brought in the best manager possible for this club.”

‘We know what we want’ – City chief on summer transfers

Al Mubarak also gave an update on City’s transfer window which will also see the club navigate a period of great change.

John Stones and Bernardo Silva are among the senior players who are set to leave the club on a free transfer – and City have seen a first bid for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson rejected. Talks remain ongoing and City are considering their next offer.

Anderson is currently with the England national team at their World Cup camp and City’s chairman says the summer tournament will not add complications to the club’s summer window.

“No, I don’t think it makes it more or less complicated,” Al Mubarak said. “I think it’s part of the game, it’s part of the business. We know how to deal with it, Hugo (Viana, director of football) knows how to deal with it.

“We know what we want, we know what we need and we know how to go about it.

“Don’t forget that in January we made two very important signings, very important signings. Big credit to Hugo in being able to identify the needs and then move on two top talents, Marc Guéhi and Antoine Semenyo – really top, top. So we’re very happy with them joining in January.

“These two would have been two typical summer moves, given the size of the transfer fees and the importance of the players.

“And as we’ve always shown, and I think this is important always to know this club, we are organised, we are thoughtful and sometimes when we need to be decisive and pre-emptive, we will do that and that’s exactly what we did in these two cases.

“I think in the summer, we know exactly what we want to do, we know exactly who we are targeting and I promise you, as always, we’ll go about our business and be as efficient, as swift as possible.”

‘Pep quit Man City 100 times’

Al Mubarak admitted that Guardiola nearly quit as City head coach “100 times over these 10 years”, times when the chairman had to “convince him to come back” to the project.

He also said Guardiola never envisaged being at City for more than four or five years.

“Over these years we have become close friends,” said Al Mubarak . “And I will say, and I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist.

“Okay, so I had to help him over the years. Not in the good times – the good times is easy – it’s always the challenging part. And inevitably over these last 10 years we’ve had a lot of ups and some downs.

“And in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years, just so you know, just for the record. There’s the story as you all know, the boy that cries wolf.

“In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. You don’t take it that seriously – you have to manage him.

“He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So, in his mind, even year four and five it was always ‘okay, how much more time?’

“And, you know, it always had to be done in the correct way. And I would say I always had a very clear understanding with Pep, because of that analogy of the boy that cried wolf.

“Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time – where it’s actually the real moment Pep decides actually it’s time.

“There’s the moments that are not real and he actually needs someone to bring him back. And there was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.

“And we reached that. And I knew it and that’s why I didn’t fight it. Throughout these years, I’ve always fought it and always brought him back because I knew that was always the answer.

“But in this particular one, I think he knew – and I knew that he knew – and that’s why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing. And I will tell you I did not fight this at all because I knew this was the time he actually meant it.”

‘City’s project has not peaked’

Guardiola will go down as one of the game’s great managers but City’s chairman says the club’s project has not “peaked” after their head coach’s exit.

“We are far from peaked,” he said. “Eighteen years… I look at where the club was in 2008, and then I look at every part of these last 18 years.

“Roberto Mancini brought that first Premier League title to this club, we will never forget those moments, it was a great period then, a first FA Cup win in many, many years.

“And then Manuel [Pellegrini] came in, same thing, another Premier League title and more success. And then Pep came in, and it was getting that mindset, that DNA of a winning club.

“And now, this club is the way we all know it right now. We are used to, because it’s in our DNA – winning. This is a club that is designed, built to win.

“What Pep has given us has taken us to the next level, and I think we’re so thankful for what he’s helped build here.”