Richard Jolly: After the guarantees of the past, this feels like an age of uncertainty for Pep Guardiola and Man City

Pep Guardiola has brought in 10 players in 2025, only one costing more than £50m

Pep Guardiola’s words can be delivered with exaggeration, sarcasm or, at times, a combination of the two, so his rhetoric can lend itself to different explanations. But as he assessed his worst season in management, he declared: “I’m delighted to have failed.”

If it was failure in the context of 12 league titles in his previous 15 seasons in the dugouts, different types of trebles, three Champions Leagues and an assortment of records, those are the standards Guardiola has set.

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