Pep Guardiola surprised everyone when he said he will 'quit' Manchester City if his squad isn't reduced significantly - but was he serious?
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Pep Guardiola smiled when telling reporters he will 'quit' as Manchester City manager.
There was a little smirk across Pep Guardiola's face when he said the terrifying words: "I will quit."
Almost like the idea of saying those three words popped into his head, he thought about it for a split second, and then did it anyway. The mischievous side of a manager who enjoys toying with the media came out again on a night where Manchester City put themselves on the brink of a Champions League place.
Guardiola could afford to be playful after a 3-1 win over Bournemouth and a fitting farewell to Kevin De Bruyne. For the avoidance of doubt, if it were needed, Guardiola won't follow De Bruyne out of the Etihad Stadium this summer.
But his message was a serious one. He hates to leave players out of matchday squads when they don't deserve it, yet with the return of almost all of his injured players now, more and more fringe names are being omitted from the matchday 20.
Rico Lewis and James McAtee have missed two games in a row, while Savinho and Claudio Echeverri were missing against Bournemouth along with Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and the injured John Stones. That's seven players who Guardiola would like to have selected but couldn't.
So the question over whether he needs a smaller squad next season brought out the headline answer. "I said to the club I don't want that [a bigger squad]. I don't want to leave five or six players in the tribune. I don't want that. I will quit," he said. "If they make a shorter squad I will stay. It's impossible for my soul to give my players in the tribune that they cannot play."
"As a manager I cannot train 24 players and every time I select I have to have four, five, six stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club I don't want that."
It is a u-turn of sorts from Guardiola, who admitted in the depths of City's injury crisis that his long-standing policy of keeping a smaller, tight-knit squad might have to be abandoned in the era of increasing games and an ever-expanding schedule. Now he's adamant that more players is not a good thing.
"I don’t want to have 24, 25, 26 players when everyone is fit. If I have injuries, unlucky, we have some players for the academy and we do it," he continued.
"They cannot sustain for the emotion of the club, the soul of the team create another connection with each other that this season we lost it a bit. The players week by week stay at home. A player has to be here to fight between them to play and has to be the right number. A lot of injuries? Unlucky, but we have to do it."
He takes the pressure of leaving players out seriously, even if they are youngsters. Echeverri, Reis and Khusanov were surprise names in the FA Cup final squad over McAtee and Lewis because Guardiola felt so bad about leaving them out in previous games. He spent 45 minutes deliberating his Bournemouth substitutes and the youngsters who would watch from the stands.
So that is his selfish reason for wanting a smaller squad, while there are years of experience of developing title-winning atmospheres that support his thinking, too.
Guardiola wouldn't be drawn on whether his 'ultimatum' meant that exits were inevitable, saying that was a question for the club. The obvious answer, though, is that players will have to leave to facilitate his demands. De Bruyne will go but City want a new midfielder to replace him while full-back also appears an area that requires new faces.
Players like McAtee may see the last week as the final straw, and others will hear Guardiola's threats and feel they may not be as safe as they previously thought. There has been plenty of talk about standards from Guardiola in recent weeks, while Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland have skewered the mentality in the dressing room with their own eye-catching comments.
Guardiola was joking about leaving, but he is deadly serious about needing a smaller squad. If he currently has 28 players and wants something more like 21, it could be a busy summer for getting maybe as many as seven names off the books before any new players arrive.
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