Manchester City Board Member Says Pep Guardiola 'Wants to Stay' Amid Juventus Speculation

Manchester City board member Alberto Galassi has hit back at speculation linking Pep Guardiola with the vacant managerial post at Juventus, saying that the Spaniard 'wants to stay' with the Premier League champions for the foreseeable future. 

In completing a famous treble at the weekend, Guardiola further cemented his status as one of the most successful managers in domestic football, but after Juve announced the departure of the similarly dominant Massimiliano Allegri, reports from Italy arose claiming Guardiola had met with Juve chiefs over making the switch to Serie A. 

He swiftly denied the speculation himself, with City towing the same line, and Galassi has gone one further in an interview with Sky in Italy (as relayed by Football Italia), to dismiss the links as entirely false, providing an insight into Guardiola's mindset. 

“As a City board member, I was surprised to read such codswallop," he said. “He’s our coach and he wants to stay with us. He can’t understand how his word is not being heard. It’s all a falsehood.

“The first thing a serious club does in these cases is to contact the other club. It’s unthinkable that City are unaware of his supposed presentation in just a few days.

“The story is totally without foundation. We don’t understand why a club should intervene for the umpteenth time to say Guardiola doesn’t want to leave Manchester City. This question doesn’t exist.”

Galassi did reveal that he had spoken with Juventus vice chairman Pavel Nedved about Guardiola, but says it was only to joke about the 'ridiculous' speculation. 

“We’ve known each other for a long time, we had a laugh. Juventus are a club that don’t need to be defended and we both realised that the issue had become ridiculous."

He concluded: “I’m sorry for the Juventus fans, but they’ll have to find another coach."