Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini has stated that he made a mistake in announcing the arrival of Pep Guardiola.
He believes that this announcement has had an impact on his team, and he would think twice before taking such decision again. Indeed, Manchester City failed to mount a serious challenge this year and only qualified for the Champions League in the last game of the season.
He said that he took the decision to protect all the other managers. There were news that Guardiola was going to Arsenal, was going to Manchester United or Chelsea. For him, it was the best thing to do in order to protect all the other managers and remove the pressure on their shoulders.
Manuel Pellegrini believes that this has had a serious impact on the players, and that was evident with the players losing 3 games in a row. This was the end of their title challenge and caused the players to lose focus. He said it was difficult to motivate the players afterward and that the team did not fully recover after this announcement.
However, he is keen to stress that this should not be an excuse for this team performance but believes that has definitely had an impact on how his team performs afterward in the Premier League. However, Manchester City did play well in the Champions League and managed to reach the semi-final of the tournament only to be eliminated by Real Madrid, who will go on and win the trophy.
At the moment, Manuel Pellegrini says that he does not have any idea what he would do next season. He will see the different offers and then take a decision in the summer. For the time being, he wants to have some rest.