Manchester City are ready to hand manager Pep Guardiola a new contract.
The Sunday Mirror says Guardiola signed a three-year deal when he arrived at the Etihad last summer, but the belief at the club is that he now views the job as a much longer-term project after targeting a raft of the world's best young players.
City management reckon that Guardiola will want to be around when the team he is building hits its peak in four or five years' time.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano – who along with sporting director Txiki Begiristain was instrumental in recruiting Guardiola – is now laying down deeper roots in Manchester by buying a luxury home just off Deansgate in the city centre.
Project Pep has been built on the premise that Guardiola, Soriano and Begiristain will all work together to make City one of the world's most formidable clubs both on and off the pitch.