Guardiola rejects claims of £200m Manchester City bid for Mbappe

PEP Guardiola has emphatically dismissed speculation that Manchester City are lining up a £200m bid for Kylian Mbappe.

The Premier League champions were linked with Paris St Germain’s World Cup-winning star over the weekend.

It was suggested the 19-year-old Frenchman could be brought to the Etihad Stadium as a replacement for Raheem Sterling but Guardiola insists such reports are well wide of the mark.

The City manager (above during a training session yesterday) said: “That is not going to happen. Sometimes I don’t understand where the news comes from.

“Manchester City aren’t going to spend the money that Mbappe deserves, or that PSG deserves. PSG are not going to sell this kind of player to any other club in the world in the next years, I guess. Mbappe is not going to come here, we are not going to swap Raheem or another top player that we have.

“People should be more respectful of PSG and respectful of Manchester City,” Guardiola added.

Guardiola was speaking at a press conference in the small German town of Walldorf, where his side were preparing for tonight’s Champions League Group F clash against Hoffenheim.

City lost their opening game in the competition to Lyon a fortnight ago and Guardiola admits the pressure is on his side to deliver.

“In the Champions League we don’t have time to lose a lot of games and we lost the first one,” he said. “We have five finals and one is [tonight].”