'Part of me is leaving' - Pep Guardiola reacts to big Man City exit

Pep Guardiola is leaving the friend who calms him down at Manchester City after Txiki Begiristain's departure was announced.

Begiristain, who took over as sporting director in 2012 and has developed a reputation as one of the best in the business after more than a decade of success with the Blues, is leaving at the end of the season. He will be replaced by Sporting's Hugo Viana, who will start working with Begiristain in February before taking over full-time in July after the Club World Cup.

Guardiola must decide whether he signs a new deal before the end of the season with his contract up in 2025, but he cannot hide the fact that Begiristain leaving will be a blow for him. As the man who trusted him with the Barcelona reins at the start of his coaching career, after being teammates at the club, the pair have plenty of shared history.

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"A part of me is leaving, I would say," the City boss said. "A friend of mine, I would say the architect, to create one of the best teams ever from Barcelona at that time and now here.

"A friend of mine and I knew the decision for a long time, for family reasons and personal reasons. I know how grateful he is for this experience here. Personally, he will be missed, but of course he will be missed a lot - for the confidence, for the trust, especially in the bad moments, because he made me incredible balanced in my job because I am so energetic.

"When I am going bad, I want to destroy everything and all the time he said, 'See you tomorrow, take a coffee'. His balance to be completely crazy in the other one, his pulse, helped me a lot in my period in Barcelona and of course here.

"But I have the opinion that the club is so solid, incredibly well-structured and it has to be like that. All the families have to move on and the club will move on."