Finishing third last season was a greater achievement for Manchester City than winning the title

Pep Guardiola has suggested last season’s third-placed finish for Manchester City represented a greater achievement than winning the Premier League title the year before.

City were hit by a number of injuries to key players, particularly Rodri, Erling Haaland and John Stones, and their hopes of a fifth successive title success quickly hit the buffers.

Their target thereafter was to finish in the top five and secure a place in next season’s Champions League, a feat they accomplished on the final day of the season.

Speaking to Reuters, Guardiola rejected the notion that the season was a failure and highlighted the struggle he, and the club, faced throughout.

He said: “You judge happiness if you win. You judge success if you win and win. And that is a problem.

“I will not judge myself or my team because of bad seasons or good seasons… Maybe finishing third in a season and never giving up otherwise you finish 10th or 12th, maybe that’s a better season than when we won the fourth Premier League in a row.

“We faced so many difficulties that were higher due to injuries, relaxation, I was not good enough… for many reasons. Maybe the analysis about my period is that the last season was better. Qualifying for the Champions League when we were on the verge of not getting it.”

City rebuild on the cards this summer

Guardiola will spend this summer with City at the Club World Cup while also reshaping his squad for the challenges ahead.

The club are close to completing the signing of Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan while Lyon playmaker Rayan Cherki is also reported to be on their wishlist.

If the two deals come off, Reijnders and Cherki will replace Kevin De Bruyne, whose contract was not renewed, and potentially Jack Grealish who is set to be left out of City’s Club World Cup squad.

Asked what he wanted to get out of the summer competition, he added: “Play good. Create a good vibe, good team spirit… Try to make the new players bring us an energy that we need to lift the team again. And at the end, we can lift trophies.”