The Norway striker wrote on X: "A coach who never stopped teaching. It sounds crazy to say this, but you made greatness feel normal. Even after hat-tricks, wins and trophies, there was always another lesson, another challenge and another level to reach.
"That mentality changed this club forever and changed me too. The honour of a lifetime to work with the best. Thank you for everything, boss."
Guardiola leaves Manchester City after a decade in charge. He won 20 trophies — six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups, six League Cups and four Community Shields — and oversaw a transformation of the club from ambitious contenders to the dominant force in English football's modern era. He has been appointed as a global ambassador by the City Football Group following his departure and will retain a relationship with the organisation.
Haaland arrived at the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2022 on a £51 million release clause from Borussia Dortmund. He was Guardiola's solution to a question the City manager had been asked repeatedly — whether he could win titles without a traditional centre-forward. Haaland's answer was emphatic: 36 Premier League goals in his debut season, breaking the top-flight single-season record that had stood since Andy Cole in 1994.
In total, across 198 appearances in all competitions, he scored 162 goals and contributed 30 assists. The Treble was won in his first year. A second Premier League title followed in his third, along with a domestic Cup Double this season — the final chapter of his partnership with Guardiola.
At no point during those four seasons, according to those inside the dressing room, did Guardiola ease the pressure or reduce the expectation. He publicly praised Haaland on multiple occasions and described him as "the best striker in the world" during a difficult individual period earlier this season. He also, by Haaland's own account, kept pushing after every record was broken and every trophy was lifted.
That relentlessness is what Haaland captured in the tribute.
Enzo Maresca now inherits a squad containing a 25-year-old striker who has already scored more Premier League goals than any other player at his age. The standards Guardiola built around him will not disappear because the builder has gone.