CITY Blues chief is happy with summer buys
FERRAN Soriano is convinced he’s delivered Pep Guardiola a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League and Europe after spending more than £200m on new recruits.
But the City chief executive will use the remaining weeks of the transfer window trying to secure deals for a world-class striker and cover at centre-back.
Pep Guardiola is targeting Alexis Sanchez and Kylian Mbappe in attack, with Inigo Martinez and Holger Badstuber both under consideration in defence.
But Soriano insists he is already content with the quality added to the squad, following the signings of Ederson Moraes, Kyle Walker, Danilo, Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva.
“This is an exciting moment at the start of another season,” he said. “We have some new players, we have been very active.
“We have signed five new players players with high technical ability and competitiveness.
“It will help our squad to be more competitive.
“So we are all very satisfied with the way we are building the squad for next season.”
Guardiola believes City remain short of fire-power, despite having Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus at his disposal.
Sanchez was identified midway through last season as a potential target as uncertainty surrounded his contract extension at Arsenal.
Mbappe was coveted in Guardiola’s first summer at the Etihad – and his outstanding performances for Monaco only crystalised City’s interest.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s imminent move to Leicester means Guardiola has a striker berth to fill in his squad.
The City manager said: “We have a good squad, players are good – but we cannot forget the club wants to fight with the top teams in the Premier League in Europe and all the competitions – and we need to have a large squad. They are not going to play every player all the games. We are going to rotate.”
After initially tracking Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, City have opted against a marquee centreback – keeping funds available to strengthen in attack.
Martinez and Badstuber represent cut price options, with Guardiola’s medical staff increasingly confident Vincent Kompany has Ferran Soriano overcome his injury problems. That is still a major risk, considering the Belgian’s record over the past three seasons. But having secured deals for three full backs, Guardiola’s next priority is attack and landing at least one of Sanchez or Mbappe.