Pep Guardiola will not take up another managerial role with a club immediately after leaving Manchester City.
Guardiola recently signed a two-year contract extension at the Etihad that ties him to the four-time defending Premier League champions until June 2027.
The Catalan says he would have no interest in remaining in club management – although didn’t rule it out further down the line – but taking on an international job could be an option.
Speaking to chef Dani Garcia on his Desmontadito YouTube channel, Guardiola said: “A time will come when I feel it’s enough and I’ll definitely stop then.
“I’m not going to manage another team. I’m not talking about the long-term future but what I’m not going to do is leave Manchester City and go to another country to do the same thing as I am now.
“I wouldn’t have the energy to do so. I’m still here doing what I am today. But the thought of starting off somewhere else, with all the process of the training and so on… no, no, no! Maybe a national team but that’s different.”
A break would help Pep
Guardiola also said he felt taking a break would do him good and perhaps make him a better manager.
“I should stop, like these chefs that go to other countries, stop and see what we’ve done well and what we could do better and when you’re busy all day day after day you don’t have time to do that. I think stopping would do me good,” he added.
The 53-year-old also outlined just how lonely life as a top-level football manager can be, especially when results are disappointing as they have been for City recently.
He said: “The starting point with coping with the problems of defeat would be being with people, your family basically. But no-one can really console the loneliness of the football manager.
“You have people beside you but the bad decisions, why have I done that, it’s gone wrong because I did this, I didn’t push them enough….the pain of the defeat, you feel it alone. You might have friends around you, but when you close that bedroom door and turn off the light there’s no consolation. You have to let one or two days pass and then start again.”
Golf is the answer
He added: “Golf helps me. One of the best therapies I have is when the Augusta Masters or one of the major tournaments comes round from Thursday to Sunday and I prepare my matches at home or here in [Manchester restaurant] Tast.
“I look at our rival and the images I want to take but always with the golf on in the background. A bottle of wine, a glass of wine, work and hearing: “Now so and so, Tiger Woods for instance, is going to tee off, look at the shot, and then get back to what I was doing, and then the same again. Working like that I think makes me a better manager.”
City have won just one of their last nine games in all competitions. They visit Juventus in the Champions League tomorrow night before hosting crosstown rivals Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
