Mangala and Nasri was a message to the Blues from boss
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Crucially for the City manager, it worked.
The inclusions of Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala for the three-match visit of the States raised eyebrows.
Sending them out against United - in particular, playing Mangala at left back - felt like a point-proving exercise.
“We don’t have another option,” said Guardiola after the 2-0 defeat in Houston. “We don’t have full-backs.”
Just days later and deals for Benjamin Mendy and Danilo have been wrapped up. Kyle Walker may have been recruited for £45m - but the departures of Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna meant a minimum of three full-backs needed to be brought in this summer.
Guardiola, however, boarded his flight from Manchester at the start of the week with just one on board.
The Catalan made it clear in a meeting with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in February that full-backs were a must in a summer when he was determined to speed up his revolution with an outlay of £300m.
He also wanted the majority of his signings in place for the tour - ahead of a season when he knows he must mount a genuine Premier League title challenge.
With such change, he needed the maximum amount of time to integrate the players into the squad.
And while deals for Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Walker were concluded - it didn’t even represent 50 percent of his planned transfer business as his pre-season preparations began.
As well as Danilo and Mendy, he wants central defensive cover and continues to pursue Alexis Sanchez and Kylian Mbappe.
Nasri and Mangala play no part in Guardiola’s plans, yet in thrusting them into the limelight of a first derby played outside the UK, it was a not-so-subtle reminder of the work that still needed to be done.
Vincent Kompany outlined the issues facing City’s new recruits when describing the intensity of Guardiola’s methods.
The Belgian said: “I see the difference when you see all the guys that went out on loan and they come back and some of the stuff we’ve been working on for a season - you can see that they are still adapting to it.”
Guardiola has made little secret of his desire to conclude his business while in the US. The signings of Danilo and Mendy represent significant progress but a centre back and a striker remain on his wanted list.