Can the Universe decelerate in the future?

The possibility of an expanding decelerating Universe in the distant future is investigated in the context of a quintessence scalar field cosmology. Such a conceivable evolution is tested against SNe Ia and $H(z)$ cosmic chronometers data, and also through a model independent method based on Gaussian Processes. The scalar field model is an extension of the exponential Ratra-Peebles (RP) quintessential cosmology whose potential now depends on a pair of parameters ($\alpha ,\lambda )$ and predicts a decelerated expansion in the future. Different from RP approach the $\alpha$ parameter allows for a decelerating cosmology in the future thereby frustrating the inevitable evolution for a de Sitter Cosmology as predicted by the cosmic concordance model ($\mathrm{\Lambda }$CDM). The statistical model analysis is updated with the most recent SNe Ia and $H(z)$ data thereby obtaining $H_0=68.6\pm 3.7$ km/s/Mpc, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\mathrm{\Phi }0}=0.735_{-0.069}^{+0.083}$, $\alpha <6.56$ and $\lambda <0.879$ (at $2\sigma$ c.l.). It is also found that the extended RP model allows for a future deceleration both for $H(z)$ and SNe Ia data. In the (model-independent) Gaussian Processes analysis, however, future deceleration is allowed only in the case of $H(z)$ data.