Leaving Arsenal was so difficult, says The Ox

Alex Oxladechamberlain has described his decision to leave Arsenal for Liverpool as “the hardest I’ve ever had to make.” The 24-year-old England midfielder could make his debut for his new club against Manchester City in today’s lunchtime clash. “Saying thank you and goodbye to the manager [Arsene Wenger] was definitely very difficult,” he says in

“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. But I can’t apologise for my decision to leave. I want to get more out of myself.” balanced and thought through at this moment. “They are well organised in the high pressing,” Guardiola said. “When you play inside and lose the ball, they are so dangerous.”

Still, the intense level of competition for places at City should reap rewards, so long as Guardiola can keep people happy. The manager insisted there had been “no chance, zero chance, not even one per cent chance” of him allowing Raheem Sterling to leave for Arsenal as part of a deal for Sanchez.

“It was never considered that we would swap him,” he said. “It didn’t happen because I think he is 100 per cent committed with us.”

Sterling has been City’s best attacking player so far, but once Bernardo Silva gets up to speed, his place will come under renewed threat, something Sergio Aguero is already encountering with Gabriel Jesus after being dropped for the 2-1 win at Bournemouth.

“I said many times, he [Aguero] is going to play a lot of games, sometimes he’s not going to play,” Guardiola said. “One day we’ll decide to play with one striker, sometimes Gabriel, sometimes with two, sometimes we’ll play with neither. It depends on my ‘silly’ decisions.”

Guardiola was being facetious but not signing cover for Kompany already looks a little silly.

Meanwhile, Guardiola has accused Jadon Sancho of reneging on a verbal agreement to sign a professional contract with City. The England Under-17 winger rejected a £30,000 a week offer from City to join Borussia Dortmund last week in a projected £10 million deal. “We did absolutely everything [we could] but I think it was not [about] the salary, maybe he thought he would get more minutes at Dortmund and I can understand that,” said Guardiola. “We tried a lot, even after we shook hands [on a deal].”