A clue came when Pep Guardiola said part of him would leave with Bernardo Silva. It wasn’t strictly accurate: it turns out all of the Manchester City manager is set to go when his captain departs.

Guardiola’s final season at the Etihad Stadium has taken place with his future providing the backdrop: there have been times when, looking drained, it felt like his last but others when, energised by a new-look team, it felt like he might see out a contract that runs until 2027.

Now it looks as if he is indeed set to leave. An era is ending. Guardiola is unlikely to have done the maths on it, but his valedictory match, against Aston Villa on Sunday, will mean he has managed City more times than anyone else, a 593rd game to Les McDowall’s 592. He is approaching 200 more victories in their dugout than anyone else. Calling him City’s greatest manager is utterly uncontroversial. The surprise is not that he is going now, but that he has had such longevity.

The manager who did four years at Barcelona and three at Bayern Munich had seemed on a personal global tour. He instead became the longest-serving manager in the Premier or Football Leagues (given that some of Simon Weaver’s time at Harrogate was spent in non-league). He was the exotic import who became part of the furniture. He was mocked, envied, admired, imitated.

There were times when English football seemed to change Guardiola, when City won the Champions League with a back four comprising players who were all centre-backs by trade, or when they scored the most goals from set-pieces in 2021-22, when he befriended Neil Warnock or when he missed Bayern Munich against Paris Saint-Germain to watch Stockport County; there were more when it felt he changed English football, that he Guardiolaised it. When League Two teams tried to pass out from the back, when managers with passing philosophies were fast-tracked to bigger jobs, when possession statistics reached new heights. It was all part of his impact.

It was nevertheless felt most in the blue half of Manchester. City were founded in 1880. Guardiola arrived in 2016. He has won 60 per cent of their league titles, 38 per cent of their FA Cups, 56 per cent of their League Cups, 100 per cent of their Champions Leagues, European Super Cups and Club World Cups.

In the history of English football, only Sir Alex Ferguson, with 13, has more than Guardiola’s six league titles; in the unlikely event he can overhaul his former assistant Mikel Arteta in the run-in, he will break the current tie for second with Bob Paisley to hold that position solo. No one else has reached four consecutive FA Cup finals or won four straight League Cups or won four consecutive league titles.