Just a few months after joining Manchester City, Pep Guardiola nearly left, but one person persuaded him to stay, and that person is now public knowledge.
After winning the 2022–2023 Champions League and six of the preceding seven Premier League seasons, Manchester City has emerged as a major force in contemporary football.
You could thus excuse yourself for forgetting that Guardiola’s debut season at the Etihad wasn’t without controversy as City lost six of their first seven games.
According to a recent rumour, the Catalan was on the verge of quitting the club, but someone persuaded him otherwise.
Guardiola bounced back from his early six-game losing streak, but after losing to Chelsea, Liverpool, Leicester, and Everton in less than four weeks, concerns about his future reappeared over his first Christmas in Manchester.
Torrent convinced Pep Guardiola to stay at Man City
Pep was under pressure to leave after City was eliminated from the title race, and he would have if assistant coach Domenec Torrent hadn’t intervened.
According to a MailOnline source, the two share a building. During the holiday season, the City manager visited his assistant coach to celebrate. Over a bottle of red wine, Torrent persuaded Guardiola to continue at City.
The next year, Guardiola, Torrent, and Mikel Arteta led City to the Premier League title with the highest league points ever earned in a season—100.
Speaking about the difficult start to his time at City, Guardiola said: “You know, losing used to equal disaster for me. Although I suppose I shouldn’t use the past tense because I’m still crushed every time we lose.
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“It’s like something just clicks in my head. Defeat is not something I’m used to. But it’s part of the process, a normal part of sport. Intellectually I accept it completely but, deep down, it’s still very hard to stomach.”
Guardiola has now won ten major championships with City, five of which have come from the Premier League.
Torrent managed Flamengo, Galatasaray, New York City, and the Mexican club Atlético San Luis, where he is presently employed.
