Pep Guardiola, the Bayern Munich coach, says he will never return to take charge of former club Barcelona. “In principle I won’t coach Barça again,” he told Mundo Deportivo. “I think that there are cycles in life and that mine [at the club] finished.”

Guardiola, who was in Catalonia last weekend to vote in an informal consultation on the region’s independence, managed at Camp Nou from 2008 until 2012 after a playing career which included 11 years at the club. During his time in charge his side won La Liga three times, two Champions League titles, two Copa del Reys, and two each of the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup.

His tenure in charge of Barcelona ended when he announced a 12-month sabbatical from football in spring 2012 to “recharge his batteries”. In July 2013 he lashed out at his former employers, saying: “I told them [the president and his directors] I was going 6,000km away and asked them to leave me in peace – but they haven’t kept their word.”

Guardiola emerged from his year away from the sport when he was appointed the Bayern manager in January 2013, going on to win the Bundesliga in his first season. However, speculation has persisted he could return to his former club.

The 43-year-old says he might eventually return to Catalonia permanently but it will be to reside with his wife Cristina Serra, who he married earlier this year, and not to return to Barça: “My wife has her work and the idea is to come back and live here [in Barcelona]. But I don’t know when that will be.”