FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris, May 22, 2026. Ten years. Six Premier League titles. One Champions League title. Three FA Cups. Five League Cups. Twenty trophies in total. These numbers would have been enough to place Pep Guardiola among the greatest coaches in English football history. He is leaving, however, on a note of mediocrity: Manchester City has not been English champions for two seasons, and it's Arsenal that has won the title this week, after City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Tuesday.

The club has officially announced Guardiola's departure on Friday. He will take his last place on the Etihad bench on Sunday, during the trip to Aston Villa. He will then join the City Football Group as a global ambassador, extending his institutional attachment to the Manchester group without assuming the daily responsibility of the sports department.

"Deep inside, I know it's my time", said the Catalan coach in a concise and well-crafted statement. "Nothing is eternal, if it was, I would be here. Eternal will be the feeling, the people, the memories, the love I have for my Manchester City." And, as if to summarize an entire decade: "We worked. We suffered. We fought. And we did things our own way. Our way."

These formulas resonate in French media as an admission of lucidity as much as a profession of faith. Guardiola, who arrived in Manchester in 2016 after his stints at Barcelona and Bayern, imposed a developed possession-based football that transformed the tactical standards in the Premier League - and beyond. His imprint on English football remains deep: his ideas have been copied at all levels of the game, from youth academies to national team staffs.

But France 24, which covers the announcement with AFP, does not shy away from the context: City is still waiting for the outcome of an inquiry into alleged financial rule breaches. This dossier, which has been dragging on for several years, is an uncomfortable backdrop to a otherwise spectacular sporting record. Guardiola's departure does not erase this procedure; it leaves it intact, at the charge of his successors and the club's leaders.

City did finish the season by winning the domestic double - FA Cup and League Cup - but the Premier League title slipped through their fingers. Arsenal, a major rival of the period, took advantage of this to regain the national championship. This symbolic shift - the departure of the best coach of the decade at the very moment when his club lost its supremacy - gives this announcement a particular density.

The question of succession remains open.