Man City's surprising Club World Cup prize money isn't on Pep Guardiola's mind before final
Manchester City will only bank £4million if they are crowned world champions.
That’s small change to a club that earned a cool £300million in prize money for winning the Treble last season and have recently announced record-breaking annual revenues in excess of £700million. But Pep Guardiola genuinely wants “to close the circle.”
It is the last trophy left for him to win after masterminding five Premier League title successes, lifting the FA Cup twice, the EFL Cup four times and taking City to the Champions League promised land and a triumph in the European Super Cup for the first time in their history. The question being asked by City fans is what else is there for the Catalan to achieve?
Guardiola was expected to stay at the Etihad for no longer than his three-year contract when he arrived in Manchester in the summer of 2016. This is his eighth year at the club. He has a contract that will take him to the end of next season.
And one of the fiercest debates to be had in any pub, club or drinking den from the Abel Heywood to the Zombie Shack is whether the 51-year-old has now usurped Sir Alex Ferguson. Fergie has 13 Premier League titles, remember. But he was schooled by Pep twice in Champions League finals when Guardiola was in charge of Barcelona.
Guardiola wants to complete the set with the Club World Cup
It was once said that Guardiola couldn’t conquer Europe without Lionel Messi, forgetting that Ferguson had both Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in his United team in Rome in 2009 and was still dismantled.
It’s unthinkable that Guardiola will remain in Manchester until he has passed the Scot’s tally of titles. But maybe the Club World Cup could be the key to him signing another contract extension that will take him to a decade and beyond. Not in its present guise, but in a new format that really will confirm the best team on the planet.
The City boss may see new challenges emerge for his team
City’s triumph over Inter Milan in Istanbul in June secured their qualification for FIFA’s new 32-team tournament to be staged in the United States in the summer of 2025. The opening game has been pencilled in for June. The final will be played on July 13, about two weeks AFTER Guardiola’s current contract expires.
It remains to be seen whether the returning spectre of the European Super League will alter the plans of world football’s governing body. A £2.2billion prize pot has already been raised. Each participating club will bank £54million for just turning up. The eventual winners will land a further £62.5million. Not bad for seven games played over a month.
Money is unlikely to come into Guardiola’s thinking when he’s deciding his future, but glory will. And the chance to coach in the first extended World Cup for clubs will surely tempt him? Winning it would really put him in a league of his own.
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