Publicly, the Catalan coach has been adamant that his departure is a result ofa decade of intense pressure and emotional spentness. After his final game, a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, a tearful Guardiola confessed: "I am so tired. Seriously, I am so tired. I did everything. We did it." He insisted that his decision was made for the good of the players and the club to ensure a fresh start under new leadership.
Despite these claims of exhaustion, critics like King point to Guardiola’s historical obsession with the game as a reason to be skeptical. "There's no two ways about that. And he's a very successful football man as a player, as a coach, no matter where he's been. Whether it's been in Spain or Germany or England, he's a winner," King added. "He's not an old man. I just wonder sometimes whether he knows something that we don't know about what's going to happen to Manchester City."