Guardiola, 55, stepped down at the end of the 2025-26 season after ten years at the Etihad Stadium, during which he won 17 major trophies, including six Premier League titles, a Champions League, three FA Cups and four League Cups.
His final season produced a domestic Cup double — the FA Cup, won against Chelsea at Wembley, and the League Cup — though Manchester City finished runners-up in the Premier League under his stewardship for the first time in three years.
Speaking in his annual interview with the club's in-house media, Al Mubarak described a relationship that had required constant emotional management across a decade of extraordinary success and occasional crisis.
"Over these years we have become close friends. And I will say — and I don't know if he will admit it — but I consider myself his psychiatrist."
He was candid about the frequency with which Guardiola had previously signalled a desire to leave.
"Inevitably over these last 10 years we've had a lot of ups and some downs. And in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years, just so you know, just for the record. There's the story as you all know, the boy that cries wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn't mean he's quitting. You don't take it that seriously — you have to manage him."
This time, the dynamic was different.
"I knew it and that's why I didn't fight it. Throughout these years, I've always fought it and always brought him back because I knew that was always the answer. But in this particular one, I think he knew — and I knew that he knew — and that is why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing."
Al Mubarak also reflected on Guardiola's broader transformation of English football, calling his influence on the game "unquestionable" and saying he had "left his thumbprint over this league."
Guardiola joined City in 2016 and signed four contract extensions. He never originally intended to stay more than four years. He will now take up a global ambassador role at the club. Enzo Maresca, the former Chelsea manager and a previous Guardiola assistant, is confirmed as his successor.