Tijjani Reijnders has provided the clearest account yet of why Pep Guardiola chose to step away from Manchester City after the 2025–26 campaign. Reijnders said Guardiola told the squad he was “so tired” after years of relentless pursuit of excellence and that, in his view, the manager had reached a point where he did not have the energy for the routine task of informing players they would not play.

Reijnders called Guardiola a “very intense manager and a football genius,” admitting he felt it a “shame “to have only been able to work under the storied coach for a single season. He added: “It is his choice,” the former AC Milan midfielder reflected. “He no longer has the energy to disappoint guys when they are not in the squad or are not playing, he told us. After 10 years, it is enough. And I understand that. By ‘intense coach,’ I mean in a very positive light, by the way. He tries to get the absolute best out of a group of players.”

Guardiola will take on a short-term ambassador and adviser role with the City Football Group, and Reijnders suggested the manager may seek a different challenge if he returns to coaching, with international football an option. Guardiola has spoken of a long-standing ambition to one day manage at a World Cup and a continental championship, a dream he articulated as far back as 2018. The 55-year-old has previously dismissed the possibility of becoming Spain manager despite having represented his national team 47 times between 1992 and 2001. He has not given a formal reason for that position, but remains a proud Catalan who in recent years has supported the region’s separatist movement. Potential national teams mentioned in connection with his future include the United States, England, Italy, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.

For Reijnders, a player who impressed at the FIFA Club World Cup and began his debut Premier League season as a starter, the campaign offered mixed returns. He scored four of his five Premier League goals in one month but then fell out of favour after February. He started only two of City’s final 15 Premier League matches, one after the title had already been conceded to Arsenal, and was unused in nine of those matches as Guardiola preferred Rodri and Bernardo Silva in central midfield, with Nico González also ahead in the pecking order.

Hans-Joachim Watzke, the long-serving Borussia Dortmund president who recruited Erling Haaland, has outlined a measured timeline for the Manchester City striker’s potential move to Real Madrid.

Watzke told Spanish publication AS that Haaland’s admiration for Real is clear but that an immediate transfer is unlikely. “I know very well what he thinks, and I can say that he certainly admires Real Madrid and would like to play for them in the future, but next season he will continue playing for Manchester City. Without a doubt,” he said. Watzke added: “He loves Real Madrid and he doesn’t hide it. I think he’ll be playing there in two or three years, but not that soon. He hasn’t committed to anyone, as his father has said.”

The comments come amid an overheated backdrop at Real Madrid, where presidential hopeful Enrique Riquelme named Haaland as a target if he were to replace Florentino Pérez. That pledge was emphatically rejected by the player’s representatives and by Manchester City, which denied any “contractual clause to enable it” and said it was even “considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.”

Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, told La Sexta in March: “Everything is going very well for him and we really have nothing to discuss about a transfer when everything is so good at City.” Pimenta has previously said she has never negotiated a player contract without a release clause, but City’s statement and her own admission to ESPN last month that the club gives her “no leverage” have cast doubt on that claim.

With a contract that extends for years at Manchester City, any transfer would require an extraordinary offer or the player pushing for a move. Watzke’s forecast — a switch within two to three years rather than immediately — reflects those practical constraints.

Elsewhere, the Real Madrid vote on June 7 will determine the club’s leadership, a result that could affect future managerial plans. José Mourinho is reported as the candidate to take a three-year managerial deal only if Pérez is re-elected, while Riquelme has named Jürgen Klopp as his choice. Watzke regards Klopp joining Real Madrid this summer as a non-starter.

Enrique Riquelme used a high-profile television appearance to outline a transfer plan that included Raúl González as his chosen manager, Rodri as a target and Erling Haaland as the marquee signing. He also offered a public forfeit: if elected and he failed to deliver those signings, he would pay the membership fees of every Real Madrid fan from his own funds, a sum estimated at about $23.3 million (€20 million).

The declarations triggered almost immediate rebuttals. A statement from Haaland’s father, Alfie, and agent, Rafaela Pimenta, read, “All very entertaining but not true,” and “We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections.” Manchester City moved quickly to deny any contractual basis for Riquelme’s claim. “The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are false,” the club said. “There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause to enable it.

“We are considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.” The club also highlighted that Haaland has a contract at Manchester City stretching until 2034.

The episode revived a familiar comparison with the 2000 election when Florentino Pérez used Luís Figo’s name during his campaign. Then, as now, there were public denials before a transfer eventually took place. Riquelme’s pledge echoes Pérez’s earlier tactic, but advisors and representatives were not reported to have signed the kind of binding paperwork that followed the 2000 episode.

Florentino Pérez responded to Riquelme’s assertions by questioning their credibility and by suggesting agents had told him Riquelme was trying to influence players. “Agents are calling me and saying that Riquelme talks to players and tells them, ‘Don’t say no.’ I don’t believe a word he says,” Pérez said to El Español. He added: “Everything Riquelme says is like the TV show Everything is a Lie,” and “He says he’s coming to save Real Madrid and then he has to take out a loan at 54% interest for his company.”

The claims have left voters to judge whether Riquelme is bluffing or making enforceable promises. Legal threats and official denials have cooled the initial splash, but the episode underlines how transfer talk can shape an election campaign.