Pep Guardiola completed club football by winning his second historic treble with Manchester City, so now what?

Several reports have circulate about Guardiola possibly leaving Man City when his contract ends

The mountain has been summited. All that lies ahead of Pep Guardiola is blue sky. Having reached one of the greatest peaks in all football and then done it again with Manchester City 14 years later, the 52-year-old might be entitled to conclude that there are no worlds left for him to conquer.

There is a unique spot in history afforded to Guardiola. In the history of European football only 10 teams have won this treble, their domestic league, primary domestic cup and the European Cup. Only one manager has done it twice. It might be nothing more than a statistical quirk, but in some ways the treble double is as good a reflection of Guardiola's qualities as anything else: a manager always striving for football perfection, but one who has come as close as is reasonably possible on two separate occasions. There are some, not many, who can better his 11 league titles and a case could be made that there have been greater teams than Barcelona in 2009 and Manchester City in 2023. To have built two of the greatest teams in history, however, is something only one man can lay claim to, the biggest factor in his favor in any argument over who the greatest ever coach is.

If Guardiola were to ask his counterparts in the Premier League, they might well tell him that now is the best time to ride off into the sunset. The English game with him in it seems unfairly weighed in favor of City, winners of five of the last six titles in England. It would appear that the man himself is coming around to that point of view. Multiple reports have suggested that come the end of his contract in 2025, the Catalan will depart the Etihad Stadium. Such a departure point would make a lot of sense. A man whose sporting hero is Michael Jordan would still have time to replicate the Chicago Bulls' threepeat, in the process leapfrogging Carlo Ancelotti as the competition's most successful coach. Equally, timescales are as unclear as the potential punishments that could come from the 115 alleged breaches of Premier League regulations by City. You could not blame Guardiola if he did not fancy hanging around for the fallout.

There is a lot of time between now and then, but would hardly be a spectacular shock if an exit were to happen two years hence. Indeed, the biggest surprise of Guardiola's tenure in Manchester is that it has lasted so long.

Guardiola managed four years at Barcelona before pronouncing himself burned out by his vituperative rivalry with Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho. His three seasons at Bayern Munich grew increasingly tetchy too. At City, even before they won their first Champions League crown, there was an ease to him. Not all of the time -- who could forget him chastising his "happy flowers" players in January? -- but, as he told CBS Sports in 2021, Guardiola has found the right club. "The club give me everything I need to be happy. Not just the players, the managers deserve to be happy. Here I have everything ... except the weather. Except for that, it's a perfect club to be," he said. "Support from the hierarchy, good players, good environment, people working for the same intentions: that's why I'm comfortable. If we win, I stay."

It is no wonder he is so at ease when City might as well have designed it to his specifications. His former Barcelona colleagues Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano head up the front office while over his seven years in charge Guardiola has been backed up by a clutch of top tier assistants, a group that includes former La Masia guru Rodolfo Borrell. City have continually invested in their facilities and although they have not outspent their rivals as they did in the years after Sheikh Mansour first bought the club, money has never been a problem for City. When you have the best coaches, the best facilities and a scouting and analysis division that is the envy of the rest of the world, one might contend it is easier to save your money. City don't get signings wrong. Since Guardiola's first year in charge, their biggest whiff in the market might merely be paying Columbus Crew £7 million for Zack Steffen. 

If Guardiola does go, he will not find that anywhere else. It was often mooted that an Italian club would be the next stop, offering him a chance to sweep Europe's top four leagues. That is perhaps the sole selling point of that league. Since Juventus' vertiginous decline, no team has shown it has itself together sufficiently to compare to City. Inter's run to defeat in the final might have led to premature talk that Serie A was back, but their 1-0 loss rather serves to show how far the best of Italy is from the continent's true elite, their energetic but toothless display putting you in mind of when mid-tier Premier League opposition give a few headaches to Guardiola before his vastly superior players carry the day.

Were burgeoning his reputation to be Guardiola's priority, then he might look to something comparable with what Sir Alex Ferguson achieved not at Manchester United but in Scotland. There he disrupted the Old Firm duopoly, winning not just two league titles but the 1983 Cup Winners' Cup. If such an achievement seemed unimaginable 40 years ago it may well be effectively impossible now. Put Guardiola in charge of a magnificently run club such as Brighton and Brentford, what is their realistic path to winning a financially stratified Premier League? The best managers doubtless improve their teams final point tally through their coaching and tactical adjustment but Guardiola isn't making Brighton 27 points better. Attempting the one thing his critics will say he never did -- building a winner without riches -- would be a hiding to nothing.

Perhaps all that is left, then, is the international stage. Going months without a game might once have seemed to be anathema for a man of Guardiola's intensity but it's the only land he is yet to conquer. Where that might be is a fairly open question, Brazil have been linked with the past whilst Guardiola's support for Catalan independence would complicate any interest from Spain. If you're reading Pep, Gareth Southgate's out of contract in 2024. Something for you to mull over there.

Whatever it is that comes next, whether in 2025 or before, one thing is clear. Guardiola is going to have to find something different to challenge himself with. There is precious little in club football that he hasn't already done.