Outgoing Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he hoped his successor can remain true to himself, warning that any attempt to find a copy of him would likely backfire.
Guardiola, who led City to six Premier League titles, a Champions League win and the Club World Cup, will leave at the end of the season after 10 years in charge.
Italian Enzo Maresca, who has previously coached Chelsea and Leicester City and also worked under Guardiola as an assistant at City, is said to be the main candidate for the top job at the Manchester club.
Asked whether City’s government had sought his advice on the next manager, Guardiola told reporters on Friday: «It doesn’t work to copy and paste in this kind of work. You have to be unique, natural and yourself, and the new manager will be himself,» the Spaniard added, ahead of City’s final league match of the season at home to Aston Villa.
«The moment it starts to become a copy of someone else… Everyone is everyone. That’s how it should be. And therefore everything will be fine.»
Guardiola leaves City with the specter of 115 charges of alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules still looming over his tenure, but said he was confident there was no cause for concern.
“Because I trust them,” he added.
«I trust them! Because I talked to them and I trust how they behaved and (what) they did. So what happened, that’s where the solution will be. I trust them.»
Published on May 24, 2026
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