Manager Pep Guardiola to leave Manchester City in 2023

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola plans to leave the team when his contract expires in 2023, ESPN reported Thursday morning.

Per the report, Guardiola, who signed a new deal with Man City in November 2020, said he's planning to leave the Premier League after that and shift his focus to international football.

"After seven years at this club, I think I'm going to have a break," Guardiola said during an online forum. "I will need to rest after being somewhere so many years and also stop to evaluate what we've done and to try to learn from other coaches. If, during this process of stopping, there is a chance to coach a national team, then I think I'd like that. I'd like to coach at a European Championship or Copa America or World Cup. I'd like to experience that."

Guardiola has won three league titles as manager at Manchester City, in addition to the titles he won at Bayern Munich and Barcelona. As a player, he won six league titles and the 1992 European Cup at Barca.

News of Guardiola's impending departure is just the latest headline surrounding Manchester City as of late. The team was in hot pursuit of Harry Kane this summer prior to the striker announcing his commitment to Tottenham. Man City now are still working hard to make a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo a reality. (According to an ESPN report, Guardiola and Ronaldo had a phone conversation as recently as Thursday morning.)

The team was also in headlines Thursday with reports surfacing defender Benjamin Mendy has been suspended after being charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.