Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says that he is still to decide whether or not to renew his contract with the European champions when it expires at the end of the season.
“I don’t know yet,” he said during a press conference ahead of Barça’s league game at home to Valencia tomorrow. “If the club needs a response straight away, I’d have to decide because the club is the most important thing. But they haven’t given me a deadline for the time being.”
Guardiola has been in charge of Barcelona since 2008 and signed a one-year contract extension in February 2011 that extended his commitment to the club until the end of the current season. Asked why it was taking him so long to decide, Guardiola replied:
“I have to feel it. It’s as simple as that.”
Guardiola has led Barça to 13 major honours during his time in charge at Camp Nou, including three La Liga titles and two Champions League crowns.
But this has been Guardiola’s most difficult season at the Nou Camp as Barcelona have battled injuries and a poor away record to fall ten points behind Real Madrid in La Liga.
Even though Barca are on course to defend their Champions League title and will face Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Copa del Rey at the end of May you have to wonder if Guardiola is worried that his message is not getting through to his team like it did in previous seasons?
Or maybe after winning so much at Barcelona in his three seasons whether he is looking for a new challenge elsewhere, maybe in Italy or England?