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Pep Guardiola ‘more than happy’ with Manchester City squad

City are trying to sign Tottenham striker Harry Kane but Guardiola insists he would still be satisfied with his options should he not arrive.

Phil Medlicott
Friday 20 August 2021 15:39 BST
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City won the Premier League title last season (Carl Recine/PA).
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City won the Premier League title last season (Carl Recine/PA). (PA Wire)

Pep Guardiola has said he would be “more than happy” with his Manchester City squad if the transfer window was to close now.

Since the end of last season the Premier League champions have signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for £100million, while Sergio Aguero has left and joined Barcelona.

City have been linked through the summer with Harry Kane and earlier this month Guardiola admitted the club would like to sign the Tottenham striker, adding that if Spurs “don’t want to negotiate there is nothing more to say”.

It has been reported that Bayern Munich frontman Robert Lewandowski 33 on Saturday, is wanting to make a move away from the German club in the next couple of years.

And at his press conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s home match against Norwich, Guardiola, who managed Lewandowski at Bayern, was asked if he was someone he would be interested in.

The City manager said: “He is a so important player for Bayern Munich and he will stay at Bayern Munich.”

Guardiola then added: “I’m not going to to talk about 11 days left, about the transfer market. I don’t know what’s going to happen, nobody knows.

“So tomorrow we have a game. We will prepare for the game, the Arsenal game (on August 28), and when it is finished, when we come back from the international break, we’ll have all the squad to fight for every game in the season.”

Guardiola was then asked if he would be happy with the squad he is currently working with if the window was to close now, and he said: “Absolutely. More than happy.

“It is the same team, except Sergio for Jack Grealish, that we had last season.”

Guardiola also revealed that Kevin De Bruyne is a doubt for Saturday’s game, but Ilkay Gundogan is set to be available.

Playmaker De Bruyne, who came off the bench against Tottenham, has been recovering from an ankle problem and was not taking part in training on Friday.

Guardiola said: “Everybody is fit, except Phil Foden (who has been sidelined by a foot issue), and Kevin has a little problem still with his ankle. Tomorrow we’ll see how he feels.”

Midfielder Gundogan has trained after sustaining a shoulder problem in the Tottenham game.

While City were beaten, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea all recorded victories in their league campaign openers last weekend.

City lost 1-0 at Tottenham last weekend (Nick Potts/PA). (PA Wire)

Guardiola said: “We have 111 points to play, 37 games. I cannot deny it, we would have preferred to have three points, but tomorrow we have the chance to win the first three.

“Of course we have to start to win games, of course, if we want to be there, close to the top of the league. But it is the second fixture. Many games and many things are going to happen this season.

“Hopefully, what I wish is to win the game. But I would like to see the team a little bit better in many aspects than the game against Spurs. We spoke today, these days, so we’ll see if we can do better.”

Meanwhile, City on Friday announced striker Liam Delap, 18, had agreed a new three-year deal with the club running to the summer of 2026.

The City academy product has made three appearances in Guardiola’s team in all competitions, scoring once.

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