The End of a Beautiful Era: After ten years of dominating England Pep Guardiola is set to depart Manchester City at the end of the current season

Pep Guardiola has decided to end his iconic spell at Manchester City. (Image credits – Heute; licence details)

Pep Guardiola is set to leave Manchester City after a trophy-laden decade in England. The 55-year-old inherited the club back in 2016 and turned it into one of the most dominating Premier League sides in the world. He has led Man City to 6 league titles, 3 FA Cup titles, 5 EFL Cup titles, 3 Community Shield titles and the club's first Champions League title in 2023, when they also became only the second side from the Premier League to win the treble.

The Spaniard could also add another Premier League title to his belt if Manchester City win their remaining two games and Arsenal drop points in their remaining game against Crystal Palace. Man City will face Bournemouth and Aston Villa in their final two league games this season and are in the hunt for a domestic treble this season. Various pundits had doubted Man City this season and labelled it as the “worst Man City” under Guardiola, but they still managed to win two trophies, which just shows how much they've improved since the Spanish coach joined from Bayern Munich.

Fabrizio Romano has reported that Guardiola will leave after Manchester City's final game against Aston Villa. The club hasn't announced it officially but has arranged a parade through the city to celebrate the trophies they've won this season and also pay an emotional tribute to their maestro without whom none of this would've been possible. Guardiola has a year remaining on his contract, but he wants to put an end to his successful career at the club and head towards the next chapter in his managerial career. Previously, it was reported that the 55-year-old would be interested in coaching a national team after this chapter.

Pep Guardiola arrived in the Premier League when Manchester City were still rising. However, he arrived when he was already one of the most prominent managers in football. During his four-year spell with FC Barcelona, he built the best-ever Barça side, which is also considered the best team to ever play the game, such were the beauty and dominance. He won two Champions League titles and three La Liga titles. He later moved to Bayern Munich, where he stayed for three seasons and clinched the Bundesliga thrice.

Pep Guardiola transformed English football. (Image credits – Heute; licence details)

Upon arriving at Manchester City, Guardiola not only took the club to great heights but also revolutionised the Premier League to a great extent. He introduced positional play in England, where the idea was to control the game by dominating with possession and create passing triangles everywhere. Traditionally, the Premier League was a fast-paced and very physical league, but Pep turned games into tactical games built on patience, winning the ball back quickly and exploiting spaces. He also introduced the "inverted full-back” in the Premier League when we often saw Man City's full-backs drift into the midfield to gain a numerical advantage in the middle of the park.

Pep not only made Man City successful with his tactics but also forced the league to change with him. Most coaches like Mikel Arteta, Roberto De Zerbi, Ange Postecoglou, and Enzo Maresca openly admitted to getting inspiration from the Spanish maestro. His style of football became a football philosophy which is now studied by almost any aspiring football manager in the world alongside other greats like Sir Alex Ferguson and Johan Cruyff. His side also broke every possible statistical record in the league, which includes the famous 100-point season in 2017-18.

Pep Guardiola made football beautiful in the Premier League, and there's no denying that. Before, teams used to dominate by physically dominating the opponents, but after Guardiola, dominance was built by passing rhythm, pressing structure, positional play and territorial occupation of spaces. People can admire or dislike his football, but everyone has to admit that he changed the way football’s played in England, where it's become more tactical and technically driven than before.

Enzo Maresca will take over as manager of Manchester City. (Image credits – Heute; licence details)

As reported, Manchester City are set to replace the “iconic” Pep Guardiola with one of his former assistant coaches at the club and former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. The club has identified the Italian as the most suitable successor to Guardiola and will carry his legacy forward from the next season. Talks with Maresca are at an advanced stage, and the Italian boss has given his verbal agreement already, with a little paperwork left before it'll be announced.

Maresca impressed in his debut managerial role in the Premier League with Chelsea, where he won the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Conference League. He also led the Blues to the Champions League and was doing quite well this season but was sacked by the club as he reportedly fell into a dispute with the ownership, as he wanted full control in making sporting decisions in the team. He also led Leicester City to the Premier League from the Championship in his only season at the club. Guardiola himself praised Maresca, who was one of his close associates.

"One of the best managers in the world, Enzo Maresca – I know him quite well, but the job he has done at Chelsea does not get enough credit,” said Pep Guardiola. (sic)

He added, "Winning the Club World Cup, Conference League, and qualification for the Champions League in a league that is so tough with a young team. It is exceptional.” (sic)

Maresca will not arrive with the proven success record that Guardiola had when he arrived at the club, but he has similar tactical capabilities to Mikel Arteta, who was also one of Pep Guardiola's students in coaching. There will undoubtedly be an element of risk in this appointment, whether he could live up to the expectations of the fans and carry the iconic legacy of the Spaniard, but he has been recommended by Guardiola himself, which reduces the risk of a failure.

The city's hierarchy knows Maresca personally, as he has worked here before, and they always have faith and are patient with their sporting projects, unlike Chelsea. The club had to move forward without Guardiola one day anyways, and for now Enzo Maresca feels like the perfect decision to replace Pep Guardiola. He deserves the chance to prove himself on the big stages, which he wasn't given at Chelsea despite being successful.