Pep Guardiola: Manchester City Boss Clarifies Retirement Comments

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted he is not ready to quit management, despite saying he is "arriving at the end" of his career.

The 45-year-old made the comments in an interview with NBC, which was aired last weekend.

Speaking before Friday's FA Cup third-round tie at West Ham, Guardiola said: "Maybe it was inappropriate to say I'm starting to say goodbye to my career.

"I'm not thinking that I'm going to retire." Guardiola took over at Manchester City in the summer, after winning 14 trophies in four years at Spanish giants Barcelona and three successive Bundesliga titles with German club Bayern Munich.

"I said in the interview that I won't be a trainer when I'm 60. But I'm 45. I'm not going to retire in two or three years," he continued.

"I'm not going to train at 60 because I want to do something else in my life.

"I started playing football young and my career was on the pitch. I want to do something else in my life, but in the next three or four or five or six or seven years.

"I love my job and I'm in the perfect place to do my job especially here in England."

'I never said this club is below the other ones'

Guardiola, whose side are fourth in the Premier League, gave an awkward post-match interview to BBC Sport after Monday's 2-1 win over Burnley.

And quotes from the Spaniard appeared in the national newspapers the following day, implying Manchester City are 10 years behind their local rivals Manchester United.

But Guardiola clarified his comments, saying: "When I said to compare the titles with Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, we are behind. If people don't understand that, I'm sorry.

"In the last five or six years Manchester City achieved more targets and got better and grew the most. It is one of the best clubs in the world by far.

"But in terms of just the titles, winning the Champions League, we are behind other clubs in the last 20 years.

"I never said this club is below the other ones. Of course we are going to fight until the end of the season for all the titles."