Man.City want Guardiola at helm for years to come, says Mubarak

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says the English champions want to keep Pep Guardiola as manager for many years to come. The Spaniard -- who has guided City to successive league titles and an unprecedented domestic treble last term -- nipped speculation in the bud that he would leave at the end of this campaign by saying last week he wanted to stay longer.

Guardiola — who stayed for four seasons with Barcelona and three terms with Bayern Munich — took over at City in 2016 and is under contract till 2021.

This season has been a testing one for him in the title race, though, with Liverpool holding a nine point lead over City with just over a third of the campaign gone.

However, Mubarak is confident that Guardiola can turn the tables on Liverpool in the title race.

Mubarak said Guardiola was much more than just a great manager and he would like him to remain at the club for a long time to come.

“Pep has been an incredible asset to this organisation,” Mubarak said.

“We can speak about his managerial accomplishments for hours but I think as a person, as an individual, as a friend, he’s been a core part of what we’ve accomplished here over the last three years.

“He’s very committed, we’re committed to him.

“We have a great relationship, we have a great environment here.”

Meanwhile, the parent company of Premier League champions Manchester City has been given a global record sports valuation of £3.73 billion ($4.8 billion) after US equity firm Silver Lake acquired just over 10 percent of the company on Wednesday.

Silver Lake have signed a definitive agreement to make a £389 million ($500 million) investment in City Football Group (CFG).

CFG, which has a stake in seven football clubs globally, including in the US, Australia, Japan and China, already has 12 percent of its equity held by a consortium of Chinese institutional investors led by Chinese media and entertainment conglomerate CMC Inc.

Agence France-Presse