Spanish coach Josep Guardiola considered that any extension of his contract with his Premier League club Manchester City should be due.

The 48-year-old coach's contract with the northern club expires in 2021, and City seems willing to retain for a longer period the coach who took over in the summer of 2016, and during this period he led the team to five titles, most notably the Premier League title in the past two seasons.

But City has slipped somewhat this season in favor of last season's runners-up Liverpool, who are comfortably ahead of their pursuers (10 points from Leicester City II and 14 points from Manchester City before the start of the 18th round matches on Saturday).

In light of this, Guardiola sees no need to rush to extend his contract, considering that performance will be a key factor in this.

"I have one year left and I must always deserve to extend my contract," the Spaniard said in comments on the eve of the summit match against his guest, Leicester.

"We - the coaches - have to achieve results, in this club you have to win in football, and we have already talked about that, the situation has changed a lot, the coaches today even in these countries are changing (their dismissal) significantly."

"During four or five months, how many coaches have been fired? So we must be patient in the performance of our mission," he said, stressing that there is a "long time" before the end of his contract with the club owned by Emirati Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"We have time, so we have to have patience, we have an amazing relationship with the board of directors and with the people who make the decisions, and we will make the best decision for the club. I think in football a year and a half is a long time, so we should all see how things go and what will happen ".

Before joining City, Guardiola spent four years as coach of Barcelona, ​​followed by Bayern Munich, three years.

The Spanish coach had previously expressed his desire to stay with City until after the end of his contract, and stressed in his statements yesterday, Friday, "the good time spent here, and his desire to stay as long as possible."

He continued, "This is my desire, but I will be confident of it only in the event that it was the best for the club, and in case they (the officials) wanted to stay for a longer period."

He pointed out that at the end of his contract he would have spent "five years with one club, so it is important to be confident that the decision is ideal for both parties, and therefore there is no hurry, it will not end in three or four months."

Guardiola's comments came on the day that the London club Arsenal announced that he had signed his assistant and fellow Mikel Arteta to take over the role of coaching to succeed Unai Emery.

Instead of Arteta, Guardiola will at least temporarily assist their compatriot Rodolfo Borrell, who was part of the City training system.