RETIRED Manchester City chief Txiki Begiristain was gifted a £280,000 Bentley Continental GT by the club – in City’s sky blue colour.
After an incredible 13 years at the helm, the club legend stepped down from the key role in July to be succeeded by Hugo Viana.
Txiki, 61, departed having helped oversee the most successful era in City’s history – winning a remarkable 21 major men’s trophies, including six of the past seven Premier League titles, two FA Cups, six League Cups, a UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Under his tenure City was also twice named Club of the Year – in both 2022 and 2023 – at the prestigious Ballon d’Or awards.
And as a parting gift for the much loved Spaniard, City gifted Txiki the luxury Bentley last Saturday at a special ceremony celebrating his time at the club.
The event was held at the Etihad Campus training complex in Manchester.
The car has Spanish plates and is left-hand drive so Txiki can drive it back home to Spain.
A top end Continental GT boasts a V8 engine with 771 bhp, a top speed of 208 mph and it can do 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds.
As well as the car, the club commissioned a special photo shoot of Txiki accompanied by all 21 major men’s trophies alongside a number of key Academy and Ballon d’Or silverware.
His departure was also acknowledged before the Manchester derby at the Etihad, last Sunday which saw City beat Man Utd 3-0.
City are of course sad to see Txiki go.
He joined the Citizens in 2012 and following Manuel Pellegrini, he was instrumental in bringing Pep Guardiola to the club as manager four years later.
Begiristain was a former team-mate of Guardiola at Barcelona and with the Spain national side.
As Barca’s director of football, he was influential in Guardiola being named manager in 2008 although he left the Catalan giants two years later.
He has been repeatedly praised by Guardiola for the work he has done behind the scenes with City’s recruitment.
City will now want to keep hold of Guardiola who signed his most recent contract extension in November last year, but hinted that he may not rule out staying beyond 2027, when his current deal is set to expire.
With Txiki, Guardiola and chief executive Ferran Soriano working in tandem, City have been the dominant force in the English game this past decade.
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