Sergio Aguero bought Pep Guardiola dinner, but it wasn't to discuss contracts, insists Manchester City boss

Guardiola also revealed £27m signing Gabriel Jesus was unlikely to start

Guardiola was unable to confirm if Aguero signed a new contract last season (Getty)

Pep Guardiola insisted today that Sergio Aguero had asked him to dinner but that they didn’t discuss his contract, even though Manchester City are yet to confirm that he has signed an extension that will keep him at the club until 2020.

The manager said Aguero had “a lot of money to invite his coach to have dinner” but was unable to shed further light on Aguero extending his stay - or confirm that the Argentine signed an extension after last year’s League Cup final.

Ahead of a testing home match with Tottenham Hotspur, which follows the 4-0 hammering at Everton last week, Guardiola refused to cast doubt on his troubled goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and said that when asked if he expected more of the goalkeeper said: “More from myself, too.” Bravo seems likely to retain his place for the visit of Mauricio Pochettino’s team.

He didn’t deny the suggestion that Bravo – whom he cast out Joe Hart to bring in - does not make saves. “[I] accept it. [It’s] the manager’s job, [the] players’ job so accept it.”

Guardiola hinted that big money new Brazilian signing Gabriel Jesus would not start on Saturday. “He is fit, he is ready to be involved in the squad,” he said. “He is a young player, 19, so we cannot think he will solve our problems. He will help us. He will have all the time to get involved. It will be easier if he could have arrived at the start of the season."

He also launched a strong response when it was suggested to him that his players might not be good enough to win the Premier League – which he reiterated he feels is beyond City now.

“I never said that,” Guardiola replied. “All the players in the Premier League and the Bundesliga and La Liga and Italian they are good players. They have talent. They pass a lot of levels to get here.”


 Guardiola admitted both he and Bravo could be better 
 (AFP/Getty Images)

He also suggested that his own decorated career in the game may be behind unrealistic expectations about how his side’s season would be. “The expectations are what it is because of my past,” he said. “What I can say is I am very happy in Manchester, feel very welcome and well treated and want to fight for everything.”