Pep Guardiola explains decision not to start squad rebuild in summer and admits Man City have tough decisions to make | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has reflected on the decision not to start rebuilding his Manchester City squad in the summer, insisting he maintained belief his players could go again.

City went on a run of just one win in 13 games in all competitions this season, leaving them way off the pace of league leaders Liverpool.

Although they now seem to be turning a corner with three consecutive victories, Pep Guardiola has reflected on the problems that they faced during the worse spell of his managerial career.

One of the most pressing issues for City is their ageing squad, something Guardiola acknowledged: “In the summertime the club thought about doing it (overhauling the squad) and I said ‘No I don’t want to make any signings. I rely on the team and I want to stay with them.’

“Because I rely a lot on these guys, I thought, still I can do it again, do it again with these guys.

“We knew at the beginning of the season that the team, for a question of time, will have 10 or 11 players more than 30 years old.”

“After the injuries, I thought, wow, maybe we should have done it. But you never know in that position.

“But the same team that is more than 30 years old, six months ago they won the Premier League four in a row, got to the final of the FA Cup and the quarter-final of the Champions League.

“I think the team is really good, and the squad is really, really good. I have that feeling. The footballers are exceptional, and all of the players that we had. Otherwise, we could not achieve what we achieved in recent years, not four or five or six years ago, last season.

“What happened was unexpected, but it happened. In modern football, for many clubs, the amount of injuries that we have, I didn’t expect it would happen. It happened a lot.”

Guardiola’s side have enjoyed unprecedented success but Guardiola admits the time is coming for some to move on, with Kyle Walker among those set for the exit door.

He said: “Sooner or later, it’s normal it’s a question of time. New players, young players will come. I don’t know if it will be now, I don’t know if it will be in the summer, I don’t know if it will be the next seasons. But in the next two or three, the club has to do it. It’s a question of age.

However, the record-breaking manager is reluctant to shut the door on the players that have served him so well over the last nine years: “I don’t know. At the end of the season, maybe they all of them will continue. Maybe absolutely all of the players stay here and we add the players that we believe we need so we can do it.

“At the end of the season, how are we going to decide? The performance of them. That will dictate what we have to do.”