Pep Guardiola reveals his 'energy and strength' will dictate his Manchester City contract decision

The Spaniard has another season to run on a three-year contract and is widely expected to agree a 12-month extension

Pep Guardiola is yet to sign a contract extension at City (Getty)

Pep Guardiola has indicated that he will make a final decision on whether to sign a Manchester City contract extension at the end of the season.

Guardiola says his “energy and strength” will dictate whether he agrees to commit himself to City beyond the summer of next year.

He has another season to run on the three-year contract he agreed when taking over at City in 2016, and is widely expected to agree a 12-month extension.

He has made clear that he is happy at the Etihad Stadium and settled in Manchester, and that his mood is good after the club secured the Premier League title with five matches to spare last weekend.

City are understood to want to keep Guardiola well into the next decade, with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak, chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain ready to begin negotiations.

However, Guardiola has never stayed for more than four years in one coaching role, having managed Barcelona from 2008 to 2012 before taking a year’s sabbatical, and then returning to work by leading Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2016.

He is aware that the moods in football can change quickly, having attracted criticism during his first season at City as they failed to win a trophy, and has made clear that he will not be carried away by their current success.

Guardiola said: “We are going to speak with the club at the end of the season. I have one more year, so I am not finishing now. So at that time, we are going to see what they think, what we think, what is their perspective for the organisation for the future.

“It also depends on my energy and strength to keep going. Now I feel good. I feel comfortable being here. We will speak with Txiki, Ferran and Khaldoon. We are going to decide what is best for the club, for everybody.”

Asked if me might stay beyond 2020, Guardiola was much more guarded, adding: “I don’t know. Football changes a lot. Now the people say we are champions, everyone’s happy, but immediately you can lose that feeling.

Guardiola masterminded City's remarkable title win (Getty)

“I don’t know how we are going to react, even myself after winning the Premier League. I don’t know how the players will see me after winning, or how I will see them.

“Now it’s OK. Everything’s good. But football changes over nothing. In these next five games, we will see how we react to success. It will be a good test for all of us to see what will happen next season.”

Guardiola, whose side host Swansea in the Premier League on Sunday, believes that retaining the Premier League title will be much more difficult than winning it this season has been.

No team has defended the trophy successfully since Manchester United in 2009, while of the three most recent title-winning managers, Jose Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri were both sacked midway through the following season, while Antonio Conte looks increasingly likely to leave Chelsea this summer.

Guardiola said: “In the last decade you see how difficult it was to win it back-to-back. No club has won the Premier League four times in a row. Bayern did it in Germany, Madrid did it in Spain, Barcelona as well, but here it is so complicated, because the others are contenders, and everybody is preparing better, they are going to invest.”

Guardiola will be without Sergio Aguero, having confirmed that the Argentina striker will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on a knee injury sustained during a training session on March 10.

Asked if the striker’s season was over, Guardiola said: “Here, yeah. He will be out for four or five weeks. We are going to fight to get him to the World Cup.”