It is 8.30am on the day after Manchester City had retained the Premier League title and Pep Guardiola is having breakfast with two of his closest friends in the dining area of the first-team building at the club’s training ground. Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, and Manel Estiarte, Guardiola’s long-time confidant, are sitting alongside the man who the day before had become the first manager in ten years to retain the title.

The trio’s arrival at the City Football Academy (CFA) had come as something of a surprise. After the win over Brighton & Hove Albion, Guardiola had given his players Monday off, so staff at the CFA did not expect anyone to turn up that morning. But Guardiola, Begiristain and Estiarte had agreed