The Catalan has one more year left on his contract after this campaign and is yet to make up his mind on whether he will see it out.
There has been speculation all season over Guardiola’s future, but he has genuinely not decided whether he will remain at City or leave the club.
It has been claimed that City have formally asked Guardiola whether he plans to see out his contract, but this is not the case. Instead, Guardiola wants to analyse in May where City are under him and how he feels, and then decide.
They remain in the Premier League title race, attempting to hunt down Arsenal, are in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup − where they face Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday − and have just won the Carabao Cup, beating Arsenal in the final before the international break.
It was claimed that Guardiola might use that pause in the club season to decide his future, and that felt logical, but it is understood he wants to delay any decision until the end of next month.
The FA Cup final is on May 16 and the Premier League season finishes on May 24, with City at home to Aston Villa. City, nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand and a home fixture against Mikel Arteta’s side in two weeks on Sunday, will hope to still be fighting for the title by then.
City accept that the 55-year-old will inform them of what he wants to do in his own time and do not want to put pressure on him. They will certainly not try to force the issue and have a very strong relationship with Guardiola built on mutual trust.
In saying that, the uncertainty over Guardiola’s future, after a decade at City, does make it more complicated for the club to plan for what could be a busy summer of managerial movement.
Inevitably, they are drawing up contingency plans, including a shortlist of candidates that includes former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca, who was Guardiola’s assistant at City, Xabi Alonso, who left Real Madrid at the end of last year and played under Guardiola at Bayern Munich and former City captain Vincent Kompany, who is the current Bayern head coach.
That process is overseen by Hugo Viana, City’s director of football, who is also overseeing the club’s transfer strategy − with, for example, captain Bernardo Silva expected to leave as his contract runs out this summer - and working on various contingencies.
It could be an extremely busy off-season, with the World Cup also to be factored in.
Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca
Viana was appointed last year after the departure of Txiki Begiristain, who is very close to Guardiola and helped persuade him to join City. Guardiola has privately joked that Begiristain's departure at that time meant he had a duty to stay longer at City.
City have always accepted that Guardiola has earned the right to decide his own future, and in his own time.
Guardiola has told them that there is still a long way to go and much to decide before the end of the season and he wants to focus fully on his job.
However, the longer Guardiola leaves it before confirming whether he will stay and see out his deal, or even sign a new one, the more he will add to the sense within football that he is likely to leave − one that has been there for the majority of this season.
City point to the fact that Guardiola, who joined in 2016 and is approaching a decade in charge, is contracted until June 2027.
Much has been made of Guardiola never having broken a contract during his career − at Barcelona or Bayern − he effectively has a gentleman’s agreement with City that he can leave whenever he wants.
When Guardiola does leave, he is likely to take a sabbatical from football before a job in international management; he would consider England − eventually − among the countries he would like to manage.
He has also always had a fascination with Brazil and is not expected to manage another club side after City. Guardiola will certainly not take another Premier League job.