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'Taking care of myself': Guardiola rules out immediate return to management

Pep Guardiola left Manchester City at the end of last season
Pep Guardiola left Manchester City at the end of last seasonDARREN STAPLES / AFP

Pep Guardiola has explained his decision to take a break after leaving Manchester City: more time for family, new experiences away from football and no rush to start again.

"Mentally, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. I don’t think that in two weeks or a month I’ll have to start all over again. I’m simply trying to figure out what my life will be like now."

So said the Catalan coach Guardiola, in an interview with the cryptocurrency trading company Okx, thus ruling out a return to the dugout in the short term, despite his name being among those linked with taking charge of Italy.

Among the reasons that led him to take a break and leave Manchester City were "taking a bit of care of myself, seeing much more of my children, my father who is 95 and still here, my sisters, my brother".

In the future, "we’ll see if I miss it, and if someone wants me I’ll come back, otherwise I’ll carry on like this. I’m not young anymore, I’m not 35 or 37 or 40-41, I’m already 56, so my outlook will be a bit different."

According to Guardiola, "the only thing I know how to do is play football or coach. So why not try to discover a life, to be happy, to be fulfilled as a human being by doing other things too, not just those related to football? I’ll try to enjoy other things I’ve never done before and will do, and we’ll see what happens."