Pep Guardiola has given the clearest indication of what it will take for him to sign a new contract at Manchester City.
The Catalan is in the final year of his deal at the Etihad, with the club eager for him to commit his future for even longer.
Guardiola has been vague about his plans, with City already his longest job in management after spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
And questioned about the future ahead of the club’s first game of the season he suggested he would determine if he is worthy of a new deal.
After record-breaking back-to-back Premier League titles, City tamely surrendered their crown to Liverpool last season.
Guardiola has also faced criticism over his failure to deliver the Champions League with the club suffering a humbling quarter-final defeat to Lyon last month.
He said: “I would love to stay longer here. It is a place I love to be, but I have to deserve it.
“This club achieved standards in the last decade, but we have to maintain that and I have to deserve it. I am going to see if I deserve it this season in terms of how the club goes forward and improves.
“This is my mind. We didn’t speak with the club in these terms. They didn’t push me from day one to today in September.
“They allow me to do my job the best I can and with all my staff and the players and this is going to continue to do. They didn’t tell me you have to do this or you have to that or you have to win this or you have to win that. They told me to play.
“In my feeling, I know the standards of the club and if I don’t achieve the standards, I probably don’t deserve so I have to win to extend my contract. It depends on what is for you success.
“We have every three days a game so we don’t have much time to think about it. I try to see every day Txiki (Begiristain) and Ferran (Soriano) and I speak every week with Khaldoon (Al Mubarak). When it is going to happen, it is going to happen.
“Now we have other issues. The organisation is so strong in all departments. It will not be a problem for the club to do what we have to do in the future.”
This is the first time Guardiola has started a fifth season with the same club.
He added: “I would not be here if I didn’t feel the fire or the desire to play good. I still want to help the players avoid making mistakes and still I have passion to do it and maybe more than ever. I want to try to be together and do a good season.”
Fernandinho will be handed the captaincy following David Silva’s departure in the summer.
Guardiola said: “Players and staff vote on the captains.
“He will be good, as he always has done since I met him. Sometimes I have captains, it doesn’t matter with the armband, being the first captain, he is always a guy who leads in the bad moments.
“We decided in the locker room, the players, the backroom staff, we decided that Fernandinho is captain and I am more than delighted with that.”
MORE ABOUT