Sterling hopes to break derby duck
The important thing is to buy players who fit to the way you want to play
Pep Guardiola
PEP Guardiola says that City’s ‘bad reputation’ for spending big money on players is undeserved.
But the Blues boss said that the day may come when the club feels it needs to rip up its blueprint and splash big cash on a single star.
City do not figure in the top 23 of world record signings, even though they are often criticised for inflationary spending in the transfer market.
The Blues’ biggest fee was paid for midfielder Rodri last summer, and derby rivals United have bought four players for higher fees – Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria.
City walked away from an £80m deal for Harry Maguire because it was above their valuation of the player, and have done the same after making moves for Virgil Van Dijk, Alexis Sanchez and Fred.
Guardiola says that the emphasis at City is getting players who are the right fit, rather than throwing money at the biggest names out there.
Asked if City will ever abandon that principle, of not budging above their valuation, and so exceeding a carefully-planned budget, Guardiola said: “I don’t know about the club.
“When it comes to expensive players we are ranking 23 and 24 but the club has a bad reputation on that.
“They say, ‘That’s just Man City spending money’ but, of course it is not true. You just have to see the numbers.
“Maybe one day it will happen, maybe not. The important thing is to buy good players who fit in to the way you want to play.
“The important thing is to take all the information about the player to reduce the uncertainty of a player being at a new club. Manchester City didn’t do that, but maybe in the future it will do it, so honestly right now I don’t know.
“It will depend on the market, the player we have, the players who stay, the players who are going to leave. Many, many things can be involved.”
City have never broken the British transfer record, let alone the world record, and even in terms of total spend, they trail behind Barcelona and Liverpool in terms of highest in a calendar year.
Meanwhile, Guardiola says he wishes Marcus Rashford was fit for the today’s Manchester derby. The City boss also claimed he would have preferred Eden Hazard to have played in the Blues’ Champions League win at Real Madrid. Rashford will be missing again when the teams meet at Old Trafford – and Guardiola says he wishes he was fit to play. “I have always said since the first day I became a manager that I like to play against a full squad from my opponents,” he said. “I would love to play against Hazard at the Bernabeu.
“I don’t like to see Rashford out or (Harry) Kane against Tottenham.
“I prefer to play against top players and all the players available so it is not good for United and he is absent for the national team. Hopefully he can recover as quickly as possible.”
Given his record against City, and the fact that his pace has been a huge problem for the Blues in recent games, Rashford’s absence is clearly a bonus for City. But Guardiola said he cannot afford to think that way, and instead focuses on the players who will be out on the pitch.
“At the moment I think about United and which players are available to play against us,” he said.
“I don’t think, not even for a half second, that he is not there. I think about (Anthony) Martial, (Daniel) James, (Bruno) Fernandes and (Odion) Ighalo, if he plays.”