'City want to keep Guardiola for years to come'

Manchester City wants to keep Pep Guardiola at the helm for many years to come, says the English champions chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Guardiola -- who stayed for four seasons with Barcelona and three terms with Bayern Munich -- took over at City in 2016 and is under contract till 2021.

The Spaniard -- who has guided City to successive league titles and an unprecedented domestic treble last term -- nipped speculation in the bud that he would leave at the end of this campaign by saying last week he wanted to stay longer.

This season has been a testing one for him in the title race, though, with Liverpool holding a nine-point lead over City with just over a third of the campaign gone.

Whilst they reached the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday they still have hanging over them a possible ban from the competition next season over allegedly breaching UEFA's financial fair play rules.

Al Mubarak said Guardiola was much more than just a great manager and he would like him to remain at the club for a long time to come.

"Pep has been an incredible asset to this organization," Al Mubarak told Sky Sports.

"We can speak about his managerial accomplishments for hours, but I think as a person, as an individual, as a friend, he's been a core part of what we've accomplished here over the last three years.

"He's very committed, we're committed to him.

"We have a great relationship, we have a great environment here.

"The people around him, the team we have in place today, the relationships I have with them, this is really an environment that's conducive to success for both him and everyone involved in this organization.

"So I'm very satisfied with his commitment and our commitment to him and I'm looking forward to the continuity of this for years to come."

Al Mubarak is also confident that Guardiola can turn the tables on Liverpool in the title race.

"I think in Pep we have a leader who has shown time and time again his ability to continuously evolve and continuously challenge," said Al Mubarak.

"We've been in this position not once, but many times before, and we've shown the character always consistently to come back.

"We're up for it and there's still a long way to go, (we're) still in November and we'll see where we end up in May, but certainly we're up for it."