Pep faces dilemma over new loan rules
going to have to adapt to the rules,” 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 current players plying their trade temporarily at other clubs.
Wolves have the third highest number of players out on loan at 27.
Both City and Chelsea are hoping the new regulations will only apply to overseas loans involving players over the age of 21 or possibly 23. But they will have to wait until February for the detail.
Guardiola used the exampled of Douglas Luiz to highlight the dilemma the new rules will throw up. The midfielder is currently 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 he went to Girona. 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 as I said before, 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 on Tuesday, 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 trips to the Etihad.
Indeed, in their last six Premier League encounters, City have racked up a 21-2 aggregate scoreline.
Guardiola insisted such a record means nothing. “They are a good stable team who, against big teams, sometimes don’t get the results they deserve,” he said.
Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks, meanwhile, aims to impress against his old club today. Brooks returns to the Etihad for the first time since being released as a teenager and said: “You’d like to do well to show them what they are missing but I think they are doing all right for themselves at the moment anyway.”