Kun and Ferna face wait on City future
SERGIO Aguero and Fernandinho will have to wait to learn if City want them for next season because they are currently occupied with trying to win titles.
The two senior players have contracts that expire in the summer, and they could end the campaign without any further clarity on their futures.
Pep Guardiola is prioritising the four competitions the Blues are trying to win before then, and believes any time spent thinking about next season would be a disservice to the current targets of the whole squad.
That means decisions on Aguero and Fernandinho - as well as other negotiations such as a new deal for John Stones, whose contract expires in 2022 will be pushed back while the hunt for Premier League and cup success goes on.
“We’re going to decide at the end of the season. Now I could tell you an answer but I don’t know what is going to happen because in my mind right now I am far away from thinking about what is going to happen next season or the players that will be here,” said Guardiola.
“I am concerned with what we are playing for.
“We work a lot, too much, like all the clubs, to be in this position and now I don’t want to be distracted.
“If I am distracted, the players will feel I am distracted and I have to be incredibly focused for the next game and Fulham and the Champions League and the
FA Cup quarter-final at Goodison Park. Maybe I will think about it when the international break starts and I have more time.”
Aguero’s future is of particular interest to City fans. The striker is clocking up a 10th season with the club and his contributions to recent successes will make him irreplaceable. He will forever be adored for the title-winning goal in 2012.
However, the 32-year-old has also had injury problems for the best part of nine months. It is more than a year since he scored in the Premier League and a marquee striker is being pursued as a priority in the summer transfer window whether Aguero stays or not.
While City have always said he will leave the club on his term,
Guardiola admitted they do not currently have the time to let him play his way back to his best.
Asked if he would like the player to stay next season, the manager said: “As a human and as a person, even as a player of course but we have to see what happens at the end of the season. We cannot forget how long he was out.
“He has started getting better. I know he needs minutes to get to his best condition but we are not maybe in the moment to give him minutes for minutes because it is an important part of the season. We have to be calm, the club will speak to his agent to know the situation and we are going to talk at the end of the season. It’s the same with Fernandinho.”
PEP Guardiola has said United were better in the derby than they were in the 6-2 thrashing of Leeds in December.
And he defended his team’s lacklustre display in the 2-0 reverse at the Etihad Stadium by saying the Blues’ performance was an improvement on their display in victory against West Ham a week earlier.
The Reds brought City’s remarkable, record-breaking 21-match winning streak skidding to a halt in the derby, but the Blues remain 11 points clear - and can extend that against Southampton tonight.
But Guardiola claimed the Reds were on top of their game in the derby, and that he was impressed by his own team’s performance, if not the result.
“There are incredible positive things from Sunday,” said Guardiola. “(We were) better than the West Ham game and they were worse against Leeds than against us.
“I was impressed by Leeds, they never gave up. More shots on target. Football is sometimes like this.”
Leeds, managed by one of Guardiola’s favourite coaches in Marcelo Bielsa, were hammered 6-2 at Old Trafford after adopting a bold attacking approach.
The City boss was also satisfied that his side had improved on their 2-1 win over top-four hopefuls West Ham a week earlier.
“I’m more calm because we were better than against West Ham,” he said. “We lost and have to accept it. United are a top club, top side, and when it happens you don’t win.”
Guardiola said he had not had time to analyse the derby, but said sorting out defensive mistakes was the key to his team responding in the right way against the Saints.