“What next?”: Guardiola’s Man City becomes first team in history to win four Premier League titles
Manchester City has created history by becoming the first team to win four consecutive English titles.
City broke the previous record set by arch rivals Manchester United by defeating West Ham United 3-1 on the final day of the 2023/24 Premier League season, finishing two points clear of Arsenal.
A superb brace first-half from Premier League Player of the Year Phil Foden set the tone for City who, after conceding to Mohammed Kudus, locked up the title through Rodri’s 59th-minute strike.
Amid all the celebrations and despite winning a sixth Premier League title with City, manager Pep Guardiola indicated that next season might be his last at the helm, pondering: “What’s next?”.
“The reality is I am closer to leaving than staying,” Guardiola said.
“We have talked with the club and my feeling is that I want to stay now. I will stay next season and during the season we will talk. But after eight or nine years, we will see.
“I have a contract, I'm still here. I'm a bit tired but some of the moments I love and we are here winning games, looking good with new players.
“I start to think about, 'No one has done four in a row, why don't we try?' And now I feel it's done, so what next?
“Right now I don't know what exactly the motivation is to do it because it's difficult to find it when everything is done.”
Since arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, Guardiola has achieved everything in the game with City including six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League and two FA Cups.
City were in a title race with Arsenal for the entire campaign, with Mikel Arteta’s Gunners coming up agonisingly short.
After finishing second to City in the last two seasons, Guardiola’s former assistant Arteta is confident his side will break through for a league title sooner than later.
“If we do what we have to do, we're going to be closer and at the end we'll win it,” he said after the Gunners beat Everton 2-1.
“When? I don't know, but if we keep knocking and being that close, in the end it will happen.
“We're on the right trajectory and now we need really to pull the teeth and bite into it because we really want more.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves, guys. We tried, we are improving. It was an unbelievable season again but we are not champions and that is the reality.”