UNWAY LEADERS
PEP GUARDIOLA admitted City may have to put up the ‘for sale’ signs next summer in order to comply with incoming new FIFA rules on loan deals.
Regulations designed to stop big clubs stockpiling talent look set to be rubber-stamped by the governing body in February in time for the 2020-21 season.
They are expected to limit the number of signings a club can send out on loan to a maximum of eight.
And with as many as 28 players out on loan from the Etihad, Guardiola conceded the regulations are likely to prompt a fire-sale of talent next summer. “The new rules are coming and we are going to have to adapt,” said Guardiola. “If we cannot loan them, they are going to come back here.
“If we don’t believe they are going to play, if we cannot loan them we are going to sell them. It’s simple.
“We’re going to see before they take the players where they are going to play, and if it is not possible to loan them we are not going to buy them.”
City are second only to Chelsea in the number of players out on loan with the London club having 39 players plying their trade temporarily at other clubs. Wolves have the third-highest number on loan at 27.
City and Chelsea are hoping the new regulations will only apply to overseas loans involving players over the age of 21 or possibly 23.
Guardiola used the example of Douglas Luiz (above) to highlight the dilemma new rules will throw up. The midfielder is in his second season on loan at satellite club Girona – where City are majority stakeholders – following his signing in 2017 on a five-year deal.
“For the young players, they want to be playing in front of people,” said the City boss.
“Would Douglas Luiz come back into the second team? No way. He would have been good with us but went to Girona, playing at places like the Nou Camp.
“For him to come back and play in the second team is nonsense.”
Guardiola was also asked about the difficulties keeping academy players happy with particular reference to the possible loss of Spanish Under-21 starlet Brahim Diaz, with the forward set on a move away from the Etihad.
Diaz, 19, is out of contract in the summer and is refusing to sign the deal on offer from City believing he has a better chance of first-team football elsewhere. Real Madrid are understood to be ready to firm up interest with an offer in January. “The case of Brahim is very simple: we want him to stay, we want to extend his contract for four or five years and we’ll do absolutely everything to keep him here,” said Guardiola.
“But it’s in his hands. My advice is: If he doesn’t want to stay, he has to leave.”
City, who are hopeful Gabriel Jesus will pass a fitness test after missing the trip to Lyon midweek, will be looking forward to the visit of Bournemouth having beaten Eddie Howe’s Cherries 4-0, 4-0 and 5-1 in their past three visits to the Etihad.
Indeed, in their last six Premier League encounters, City have racked up a 21-2 aggregate scoreline.
But Guardiola warned: “I don’t care about past records – they don’t allow us to start the game 3-0 up. This will be a tough game.”