'Steph Houghton on Guardiola's Golden Invitation: How could I resist the chance to watch and learn from him?'

Guardiola extended the offer to Houghton following her retirement from football in 2024. The former City captain decided to hang up her boots after an impressive 22-year career in senior football.

The star has gone into WSL punditry and other media work but has not ruled out becoming a coach in the future.

'Maybe when it gets a bit sunnier!'

Houghton told FourFourTwo that Guardiola had made a very kind offer to watch him and his staff work with Manchester City's men's first team: "I definitely have to do that – the best manager in the world inviting you to watch him coach, and learn from him?

"Maybe when it gets a bit sunnier! But I’ve got to take him up on that offer. There’s no way I can say no to that."

She added on her decision to retire: "To retire is always a hard decision. I was umming and ahhing the season before, but I decided to extend my contract because I was playing and still enjoying it. The next season, I started to not enjoy it as much.

"I just felt as though there was nothing else I could do, and I wanted to end things on my terms. Once I finally made the decision and a statement went out, I cried for two hours. But, in terms of what was best for me and my family, it was the perfect time.

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"I’ve been keeping really busy with punditry for the BBC and Sky, I’ve launched a new podcast with Ian Wright and I do ambassador stuff for Man City, so I’m very lucky that I’ve had a lot of options."

Houghton hung up her boots after winning 18 trophies throughout her career. She only lifted one with England, the SheBelieves Cup in 2019.

She represented England 121 times and went to five major tournaments.

In FourFourTwo's opinion, Houghton is one of England's best-ever players, cruelly missing out on selection for the 2022 European Championships due to lack of game time after a long injury absence.

The Lionesses won the tournament after beating Germany 2-1 in the final at Wembley. Houghton had worked hard to return from injury to be available for selection but manager Sarina Wiegman did not pick her for the tournament squad.