Exclusive: What's next for Guardiola's Manchester City

Manchester United’s abject home defeat to an already virtually relegated West Bromwich Albion probably isn’t how Pep Guardiola would have wanted to win the title, but he’ll take it nonetheless.

The celebrations will really get underway this Sunday when Swansea call into the Etihad, desperate to rain on Manchester City’s parade as they continue their fight for Premier League survival. Pep, meanwhile, will already have one eye very much fixed in the direction of next season.

So what next for City? Where do they and their manager go from here?

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Guardiola’s contract situation

Pep’s arrival at the club was never just about winning a league once, but having a good run at them consistently, and was never about winning a Champions League, but rather about establishing City as one of Europe’s top four sides.

Winning trophies are a logical consequence of achieving this ambition, but in that respect Pep would be the first to say that his stay at City is still, very much, a work in progress.

There is still much to be done.

Wherever he has coached he has always demanded of both himself and his players that they immerse themselves totally within the community that they operate. It is never just about the football but also about being part of the culture of where he now lives and operates.

Currently things are looking good as he enjoys the respect and undivided attention of a, mainly, young squad to which only minor adjustments are required. More on that later.

For the power brokers at City, therefore, it makes perfect sense to approach him now – to strike while the iron is hot – before he enters the last year of his contract when the next season begins.

City will probably offer him an extra two-year deal, but if previous negotiations at other clubs tell us anything, the likelihood is that Pep will only be interested in extending by a year and then to have a one-year rolling deal in place.

How long he will actually stay at City is probably something that not even he knows, although there are certainly enough factors in place at the club – not least his close friendship with both the CEO (Ferran Soriano) and director of football (Txiki Begiristain) – to suggest that he could be there for at least four years.

He also knows he has unfinished business and most importantly possesses both the financial wherewithal as well as the necessary products currently already in house to help him to achieve just that.

How will he improve the side?

The suggestion that City’s abundance of riches mean they go shopping with a ‘name your price’ approach to negotiations is as idiotic as it is inaccurate.

That said he will almost certainly be on the lookout for another centre back, a holding midfielder and also a winger or forward. If there was a top striker available at anything other than eye-watering sums, then he would almost certainly be interested.

If the price is crazy, he will be looking closer to home in that department.

I am sure Pep is of the firm belief that many of the young players he has at City still have a long way to go, can get much better, which should send collective shivers down the spine of every club in the Premier League.

Raheem Sterling is a magnificent talent that will finish the season with a highly impressive goal tally, yet also with a tinge of disappointment. He and Pep will know that he could, and should, have scored at least ten more goals this season.

Had he converted some of these chances then the reality is that this is a City side that would almost certainly have been crowned champions even earlier than they eventually were.

If Sterling can improve on an already good conversion rate, it will elevate him – and certainly his transfer value – up to the very highest level of the world’s top players.

The Sterling that Pep inherited was very fast, but lacked an understanding of the game. This includes understanding of that pace, the pause, and what he could do with it.

Pep has added that dimension to his game; when to hold the ball, when to give it, when to find the space, when to hold his ground.

Forget City for a minute; the true beneficiaries of that could well be England in Russia this summer.

Ditto Leroy Sané. A very fine player and on his day almost unplayable, but still very much a work in progress whose undoubted qualities still on occasions need refining.

His play on the ball needs to improve as does his shooting on occasions but all the raw materials are there and the infrastructure is in place to convert what is a very fine player into a truly great one.

City’s bid to become one of Europe’s top four sides

Just whether City will become regarded as one of the top sides in Europe remains to be seen but the one thing that is certain is, despite some of the scintillating stuff they have thrilled both their fans and also many neutrals with, it hasn’t happened this year.

In a knockout competition anything can happen. The line between success and failure is a very thin one and external influences, such as refereeing decisions and the rub of the green, do play a part.

This, however, can never serve as an excuse because some of the decisions made and scenarios in place only really come into sharp focus when you look over your shoulder and realise that all of would be irrelevant had you done your job properly in the first place.

It is there that they need to improve.

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City have looked most vulnerable this season, ironically, at a time when they are exerting the most pressure. When they are pressing high up the pitch – as they invariably are – collective reaction to a change of situation has not always been as mature as it should be.

The key for Guardiola in establishing his club will depend to a huge extent on his ability to instil a maturity and a calmness into those undoubtedly outrageously talented young players he has.

To show them how to react not when things are going well, as indeed they are for the majority of the time, but how how to step up to the plate when matters look like they could unravel.

And fundamentally in his ability to show his players how they can learn from experiences, such as defeat at the hands of Liverpool.

Another league title will confirm that things are heading in the right direction. A Champions League may or may not be on its way but, for me, it is not a fundamental yardstick we should use to judge what Guardiola is trying to create at Manchester City.

This is just the beginning, neither Pep nor Manchester City have even remotely peaked yet…not by a long chalk. Watch this space.