Pep Guardiola sends warning to Man City stars after contract call

Manchester City possess the best player in world football in Rodri.

As well as the Ballon d'Or winner, Phil Foden swept the board for individual awards last season and something will have to have gone drastically wrong if striker Erling Haaland does not win football's greatest individual prize in his career. Add in a handful of stars that make up the leadership group and you begin to see why the Blues win so many matches and competitions.

As talented as the players are, they need direction. And there is nobody better than Pep Guardiola to conduct the orchestra and pull all of the strands together to make sure the squad is more than the sum of its parts.

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In recent weeks, with an injury crisis that left the available players knackered as matches went on, there has been fraying at the edges of the united front that City usually represent. Guardiola has been concerned by injuries but particularly irked by problems that he has felt have gone on longer than they should have done; Jack Grealish being picked for England after being unavailable for City made for one frosty press conference.

The two questions every year at City is how do they find the motivation to go again, and how does Guardiola find the energy to lead that drive without the players getting sick of him? With uncertainty surrounding his contract, it would be even more natural for players to drop off even if not consciously as they wait for the next chapter.

This extension for the manager changes all that though. Every member of the squad has been sent a clear message that if they do not meet the expected standards that could be them done for the next 18 months rather than six. Unless they want to waste years of their football career, it is time to ask how high whenever Guardiola tells them to jump.

City's worst ever run under Guardiola has hardly left them in a terrible position, and there is an expectation that they will improve as and when players return. The news this week should also bolster the squad as those that want to be a part of City's future do whatever they can in the present to help out.