Pep Guardiola issues four-word demand to Manchester City bosses over transfer plans | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued a clear demand to his colleagues in recruitment positions over their summer transfer window activity.

It’s going to be a busy summer of transfer dealings at the Etihad Stadium as club officials look to trim the wage bill by parting ways with current players who have failed to live up to expectations and recruit four to five new signings.

Jack Grealish is expected to leave the club this summer and there is interest in John Stones as the 31-year-old enters the final year of his contract, with Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips also expected to seal permanent exits ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Kevin De Bruyne played his final game in a Manchester City shirt on the last day of the Premier League campaign against Fulham at Craven Cottage – and the Belgium international is expected to be soon announced as a new Napoli player after agreeing a two-year contract with the recently-crowned Serie A winners.

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has outlined the club’s ambitions of completing their major transfer business in time for their FIFA Club World Cup campaign, with Grealish set to be left out of the squad to complete what now seems an inevitable exit.

City have reached a full agreement with AC Milan to sign Tijjani Reijnders and are in direct talks with Lyon and Wolves for the signings of Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri respectively – with both deals expected to be completed in the coming week.

Speaking to ESPN during the international break, Pep Guardiola was quizzed on what sort of additions he felt would be needed in his Manchester City squad in order to get the club back to their desired levels from next season.

“Always the same: Give me good players. The rest, it doesn’t matter,” Guardiola insisted.

“The good players can adapt and adjust,” he continued. “We will adapt the movement or tactics or whatever things we say as managers for the quality of the players.

“And especially (give me) players that go to Anfield, go to (Real) Madrid, the (Santiago) Bernabéu, Barcelona, Camp Nou or wherever and say: ‘Okay, I’m going to play my best’. That is the difference, the top players have that.”

Guardiola added while speaking in his role as an investor in a medical centre focused on personalised healthcare, Monarka Clinic: “But we are not adjusting for the fact that we (had a tough season). If we win, I don’t have to adjust anything? That is a mistake.

“When you win, you also have to adjust things. Day by day, game by game, week by week (you adjust). Of course we are going to adjust some things, but not for the fact that we just won the Community Shield.”