PEP: RESTING PLAYERS? NO WAY, JOSE
PEP PLAYS DOWN MOURINHO’S CLAIM HE’S PRIORITISING EUROPA LEAGUE
PEP Guardiola dismissed Jose Mourinho’s claims he will sacrifice a top-four finish for the Europa League.
United manager Mourinho insists he will prioritise Europe over the Premier League and is threatening to name a weakened side against Arsenal on Sunday. But Guardiola, who is in a battle with his long-time rival for Champions League qualification, refuses to fall for his mind games.
City play Crystal Palace at the Etihad today, with the chance to put clear daylight between them and United.
And Guardiola expects a response from Mourinho. “I am pretty sure that United is going to London to win the game,” he said. “What I know a little bit about the times I face my colleague, Jose Mourinho, he is never going to drop even one game.
“It doesn’t matter about the teams he’s going to play, his decision is he is going to travel to London to win the game.” City, who are currently a point clear of United in fourth place, have their destiny in their own hands.
Guardiola said: “If we win all of our four games left we will definitely be in the Champions League and maybe in the third position. It all depends on us.”
PEP Guardiola believes City are sitting on a goldmine in Gabriel Jesus – but still plans to sign a striker this summer.
At a fee of £27m, Brazilian international Jesus already looks like a bargain – particularly in light of the £100m Monaco are demanding for Kylian Mbappe.
Guardiola believes City have made a profit on the 19-year-old just four months since his arrival from Palmeiras.
But he is adamant he still needs to improve his strike force in a summer when he plans to overhaul a squad that fell so short of expectations this season.
Guardiola has bemoaned City’s wastefulness in front of goal all season – and it has never been more costly than at the Etihad where they’ve managed just 27 goals in the Premier League.
“We can accept the opponent scoring one goal, but we didn’t score enough goals,” said Guardiola. “We didn’t score two, three, four goals enough times.
“We created enough chances. In the statistics, we are the team in the Premier League with the most clearcut chances, but are seventh in the statistics of the teams scoring the most goals.
“When one guy is fast, he’s fast, when one guy’s strong, he’s strong.
“When one guy’s good at heading, he’s good at heading, when one guy is good at scoring goals, he’s good at scoring goals.
“So when you buy a guy, who’s fast, you buy a player who’s fast. So goals, you have to buy. That’s what it is.”
Alexis Sanchez is Guardiola’s top attacking target, with City preparing to spend £50m on the Arsenal contract rebel.
That’s still significantly more than they had to pay for Jesus, who is already being tipped by compatriot Neymar to be a future Ballon d’Or winner.
With four goals in as many Premier League starts, the teenager is living up to the hype that prompted Barcelona, Real Madrid and United to rival City for his signature.
Asked what his value would be following his stunning start in the Premier League, Guardiola said: “I think he would be expensive.
“I don’t know the market, I’m not the sporting director, I don’t know how it works.
“Today the prices are crazy all around the world, so he would be expensive, I’m pretty sure about that.
“Before we got him, we expected a lot of things, but not that impact as soon as possible.
“He will be the future striker in this club for the next years.”
It speaks volumes of the impression Jesus has made on Guardiola that the name of Lionel Messi springs to mind when assessing his start.
“The good ones make a good impact,” added the City manager. “Messi, for example, we took at 18, 19 years old scored and he scored 40 league goals in a year. “The top players are top players. “When we decided to buy Gabriel, he had a lot of girlfriends (interested clubs) to go. A lot of teams. But he decided to come here.”