‘I saw the chairman’: Vincent Kompany shares the secret he kept from Pep while at Man City
Vincent Kompany has revealed that he told the Manchester City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, that he had decided to leave the club before he told Pep Guardiola.
The former City captain brought an end to his time with the Citizens at the end of the 2018/19 having lifted the Premier League and FA Cup.
With the 37-year-old now preparing for his second season in charge of Burnley and first in the Premier League as a manager, he has shared some details regarding his City exit and how it all came about.
Speaking to Gary Neville in a recent video on The Overlap, Kompany said this when asked about his final season at the Manchester club and his decision to leave.
Kompany shares details on City exit
He said: “It was nice and everything landed the way it was supposed to, it was my last game at the stadium and I remember after the game I saw the chairman and he was the first person I told.
“I’d made my mind up but then it was like a confirmation, I told the chairman, I said ‘Khaldoon, this is it. We can’t do better than this so we’ll win the league and we’ll win the FA Cup and that’ll be it.’
“I ran into him first and I didn’t want Pep to not play me in any of the other games either. [Khaldoon stayed quiet] because he knew I wanted to say it in my own time, so I think I told Khaldoon first but I ran into him and it was just the perfect time, he was going to fly back to Abu Dhabi, I wasn’t going to see him again so this was the time I told him.
“We had the Brighton game coming up to win the league, so we did that, I thought [it’s] still not the right time and then the day before the Watford game, because I know Pep in finals and stuff or when he feels like the team is stronger he might put you on the bench and put someone else on so I just went to him ‘I’ve got to play tomorrow.’”
During his 11 years at the Etihad Stadium, Kompany made 360 appearances for City across all competitions, winning four Premier League titles and other domestic trophies.
Looking back over his final weeks at City, the defender scored one of the most iconic goals of the Guardiola era during their 1-0 win over Leicester City which ultimately led to them snatching the league title away from Liverpool.
Having then gone on to complete the full 90 minutes in his final game for the club in their 6-0 win over Watford in the FA Cup final, having not featured in any of their prior games in the competition that season, this was the perfect way for him to bring an end to his tenure at City.
