Manchester City transfer news: What to expect from Pep Guardiola on deadline day

Guardiola has insisted City will not spend in January and there is no reason why that will change

Pep Guardiola has consistently said that Manchester City will not bring players to the club this January and there is no reason to expect that stance will change today.

Guardiola never ruled out future transfers being arranged this month and it is no secret that City were one of three clubs in the hunt for Ajax prodigy Frenkie de Jong.

De Jong ultimately chose Barcelona, however, and the 21-year-old £65m transfer to the Nou Camp will be completed this summer.

City must therefore look elsewhere but will almost certainly not add to their first-team squad before tonight’s 11.00pm deadline.

Ruben Neves and Tanguy Ndombele

City’s most pressing concern is finding a young holding midfielder to become a key member of Guardiola’s squad. De Jong was the leading candidate but they must now look elsewhere.

Both Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ruben Neves and Lyon’s Tanguy Ndombele have been identified as potential long-term successors to Fernandinho.

A move for either will only be made in the summer, if at all, however. City were understood to be interested in Neves last year, only to be dissuaded by Wolves’ asking price.

Guardiola recently said that City will not pay extortionate fees for a holding midfield player, referencing Neves himself.

“A month ago, I started reading – ‘Rúben Neves, £100m’,” he said. “That is not going to happen, we are not going to pay £100m for a holding midfielder.”

Ben Chilwell

Guardiola is interested in adding a left-back to his squad following Benjamin Mendy’s struggles for fitness over the past two seasons.

Ben Chilwell, the Leicester City full-back, is young and talented enough to offer Mendy competition and has been linked with City, though he is unlikely to come cheap.

Last summer, Leicester extracted £60m out of City for Riyad Mahrez – who remains City’s record signing – and would command a similar fee for the highly-rated England international.

With Mendy returning to fitness and no desperate need for cover in the position at present, any potential move for Chilwell or another left-back is likely to come in the summer.

Idrissa Gueye

Suggestions that City could become involved in the transfer saga developing around Everton’s Idrissa Gueye were dismissed by Guardiola on Tuesday night.

Gueye is the subject of interest from Paris Saint-Germain and the 29-year-old has told Everton of his desire to leave, yet Everton are reluctant to sell.

Guardiola is not in the market for Gueye, in any case, as he made clear after the surprise 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United.

“During the month, I said we were not going to do anything in the transfer market,” the City manager said, when asked about Gueye directly.

“We were clear as a club that we were not in the transfer window. I’ve said it five times. It’s finishing.”