CITY SPECIAL Guardiola is set to give Mangala a City lifeline
PEP Guardiola is giving serious consideration to handing Eliaquim Mangala a chance at City.
The £42m centre-back was among a host of rejects the Blues hoped to offload this summer.
But they have so far failed to find a club willing to meet his wages and their £18m valuation.
In the meantime, Guardiola has taken a close look at the Frenchman on tour in the US and back at City’s CFA campus and has been impressed with his attitude.
He is now considering Mangala – who was an unused substitute against Brighton on Saturday – as a viable option as a fourth centre-back if his attempts to bring in cover for Vincent Kompany, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi prove fruitless.
It’s notable the 26-year-old has continued to train with the first team throughout the summer, while other players deemed surplus to requirements have worked away from the group.
Among those are Samir Nasri, Jason Denayer and Wilfried Bony, who have all been told they do not figure in Guardiola’s plans.
Nasri, who earned glowing praise from the Blues boss on tour, has done nothing to convince the City manager he has a future at the club.
The Blues’ main issue is finding a club willing to pay their £10m valuation before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. PEP Guardiola claims he only had ONE big selection decision to make for his first team of the new Premier League season – whether to include Raheem Sterling or not.
In the end, he left the England ace out of the starting side for the 2-0 win at Brighton, along with fellow speedster Leroy Sane and new boy Bernardo Silva.
Talking about his team selection, Guardiola revealed there was only one question mark in his mind when he made his final decision.
“The only doubt I had was Raz (Sterling), because Raz played amazing in pre-season through the middle,” he said.
“He creates a lot of problems, but also I thought when the game is tight, not clear, to have Leroy and Raz and Bernardo maybe when the opponent is a little bit tired they can make the difference. All three were good when they went in.”
The manager gave a little insight into his decision to put those three on the substitutes’ bench at the Amex Stadium.
His reasoning indicated that the pace and verve provided by that £125m-worth of talent will be used in specific circumstances.
All three appeared as replacements in the last quarter of the 2-0 win on the south coast, when the result was still in the balance.
But Guardiola said he preferred to start with the more solid, if less dynamic, abilities of Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva and Danilo against opposition that he knew would sit deep and try to stifle the Blues.
That is perhaps an indication that he will use the more technical players who are able to de-construct defences against teams that park the bus, such as Brighton on Saturday.
Guardiola agreed that winning at Brighton was a case of being patient – and that pace is not a weapon against a well-organised and determined outfit. He said: “We would like to be a little bit more, when we arrive there, faster in the last few metres, but with the kind of players we had on the pitch, it was even more complicated. “When you have Leroy, when you have especially Raz, even Bernardo Silva, they are guys who are more dynamic than we had on the pitch. “But it’s good to have players that mean we can change the way we want to attack. “Like I saw in pre-season, especially with the five defenders, they did well and I wanted to give confidence to them.” Guardiola has also reassured his squad that they will all be heavily involved this season. “All of them are going to play,” he said. “Last season I rotated the team a lot and I will do that again. “They will all be involved. After that it depends on them and if they accept my decision or Pep Guardiola not.
“If they don’t accept it, it will be their problem, not mine.”