Alan Shearer Predicts Guardiola's Next Move After Manchester City

Alan Shearer believes Pep Guardiola’s next chapter will be written on the international stage once his Manchester City reign comes to an end this summer.

The Premier League’s record goalscorer expects the Catalan to walk away after Sunday’s final league game of the season against Aston Villa, a fixture increasingly framed as the closing act of a remarkable decade at the Etihad.

Shearer, speaking to Betfair, was clear on one thing first: Guardiola needs a pause.

“What lies ahead for Pep Guardiola after City? A break!” he said. “I believe it will resemble what we have observed in the past; he might take a year off and then return revitalized and ready to go again.”

Guardiola, 55, has spent ten years driving City at full tilt, collecting trophies under relentless scrutiny and expectation. The strain of that cycle is obvious, even if the success has often made it look effortless from the outside.

The pressure, Shearer feels, points Guardiola towards a different kind of job.

“I can envision him leading an international team; I won’t claim it’s less demanding, but perhaps it won’t be as intense, presenting a different challenge for him,” the former England captain added.

Guardiola has already been linked in the past with the Brazil national team, a role that would marry his tactical obsession with a country that lives and breathes the ball. For a coach who has conquered domestic football in Spain, Germany and England, the lure of a World Cup or continental championship from the dugout is an obvious next frontier.

City, meanwhile, are bracing for life after their era-defining manager. It has been widely reported that former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is set to succeed him at the Etihad Stadium, tasked with inheriting not just a squad, but a standard.

If Sunday really is Guardiola’s Premier League farewell, his next move may not come quickly. Shearer expects that familiar pattern: a year away from the grind, then a return with a new target in sight.

Club football has felt his influence for more than 15 years. The real question now is whether the international game is about to feel it just as sharply.