Player power, Hugo Viana, form - Pep Guardiola is simplifying his Man City contract decision

Pep Guardiola has always said he will take a number of factors into consideration when he decides on his future.

The first caveat is that his owners have to be satisfied with results to want to give him a new deal. That has not been in doubt since 2017, with so much effort going into getting the Catalan that there was patience after a tough first season.

City's manager has also said from the first day that he will walk away when his players do not look at him in the same way and are no longer motivated in the same way. When he feels he has stopped being the best person to get through to the team, it is time to leave.

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There have certainly been challenges to his authority over the course of eight years and numerous players that have disagreed with his decisions and grown tired of his methods. They have always been in the minority though, and in his ninth season it has been striking even to Guardiola how well the squad continues to respond to what he has to say; "I'm enjoying a lot the way we are playing lately," he wrote in Saturday's programme.

The results would certainly back that up. City haven't lost at the Etihad since November 2022 and this season they are unbeaten in all competitions and at all venues. Approaching the second quarter of the Premier League, they are a point clear of their nearest challengers and seven points from nine in the Champions League keeps them on track for an automatic place in the last-16 come February.

Indecision could feasibly have been a factor, yet Guardiola - with help from the form table - is adamant there has been none. Without that distraction, he is free to make his decision when he feels ready to.

Then there is the bigger picture at City. Txiki Begiristain is leaving his position as sporting director at the end of the season after 13 years at the club, and as one of the most important and senior figures at the Etihad he will be deeply missed.

The club are losing the best in the business in his field, while Guardiola is losing his long-time friend and one of the people who knows him best. No wonder he said it feels like a part of him is also leaving as he starts counting down the number of coffee meetings left to have every morning where they put the football world to rights.

And yet, there is still enough pulling Guardiola to stay in Manchester that he has not decided to follow Begiristain out of the door. He still might, but it isn't a given.

It wouldn't appear to make much business sense for a club as well run as City are to allow two seismic departures in the same summer - especially with the Club World Cup making it a shorter pre-season for anyone coming in. However, Hugo Viana has already been appointed as Begiristain's replacement and Guardiola suggested the club would do similar with his position in an answer that hinted he has already squared this thought in his mind.

"It will be a bad sign for the club if after just one person leaves and everything is dragged down," he said on Friday. "Maybe they will make mistakes, but during the mistakes they will solve it.

"Then the mistakes will be solved immediately, that is for sure. The guys know exactly what they have to do."

If Guardiola can rule the impact of all of these things out, deciding what he wants to do next season does not necessarily become easier but it does make things simpler. The manager can focus solely on his personal situation: whether he has the energy to keep going at City, how he wants his next job to map out, and what is best for him and his family.

It is testament to the success Guardiola has had in the job and the environment City have built that, unlike most in his profession, he gets to make his decision exclusively on his terms because everything else has been accounted for already.