Guardiola says he will QUIT Man City unless club make crucial squad changes | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola claimed he will quit Manchester City unless the size of his squad is reduced, because of the difficulty of leaving players out.

City struggled with injuries earlier on in the campaign, prompting them to embark on a January spending spree which saw Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov all arrive at the club.

But speaking after his side’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth, which means City need just a point to secure Champions League qualification for next season, the Spaniard revealed he has told the club he cannot work with a squad of the current size.

“I said to the club I don’t want that,” he said. “I don’t want five or six players in the tribune. I will quit. If you don’t make me a shorter squad, I will not stay.

“It’s impossible for my soul to give the players in the tribune, that cannot play.

“Now it happened because we added four players. There was maybe three or four months where we we could not select 11 players, we didn’t have defenders, it was so difficult.

“After the people came back, and next season it cannot be like that.

“As a manager, I cannot be training 24 players and every time I have to select four, five or six players to stay in Manchester at home because they cannot go to play.

“This is not going to happen. I said to the club I don’t want that.”

There were again notable absentees from the City squad against Bournemouth – including Rico Lewis, James McAtee and Savinho.

And Guardiola says having to leave players out is damaging for his squad.

Asked about possible departures this summer, he said: “It’s a question of the club. I don’t want to have 24, 25 or 26 players when everybody is fit.

“If I have injuries then it’s unlucky. We have some players in the academy and we will do it.

“But we cannot do it to sustain the emotional soul of the team, to create another connection between each other. This season we lost it a little bit. The players week by week stay at home.

“You are a journalist right? Imagine you say you are not going to write articles? What do you say? What am I doing here?

“Players have to be here to fight to play. The right number. It was a lot of injuries. Unlucky. But we have to do it.

“It’s a headache. Yesterday I spent more than 45 minutes with six players, not one or two. Six players were at home. I don’t like that.”