Man City: We considered bringing in another striker – Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola says the Manchester City considered signing a striker in the summer but finding one of the requisite quality proved elusive.

With Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus both out injured as City travel to France for our Champions League game against Marseille, we look somewhat light in the striking department.

And Guardiola admits he and Director of Football Txiki Begiristain were considering bringing in reinforcements but signing a striker at the level of Aguero and Jesus proved too expensive.

“We thought about it, another type of striker, but we couldn’t do it,” he said.

“The club did what it could. They want to reinvest in the team. Our team is so young.

“When you decide to buy a striker, they need to be on Gabriel and Sergio’s level and you cannot afford it. That’s the reality.

“I’m not saying the club didn’t want to do it, they wanted to make as strong a team as possible, but we thought Sergio is coming back and we didn’t expect Gabriel’s injury.”

City’s injury list has been long this season, with the short turnaround time between last season and this one proving difficult to navigate.

Aguero and Jesus have both spent time on the sidelines, as have Kevin De Bruyne, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones, Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

However, Guardiola has steadfastly refused to complain and believes the situation is beginning to ease.

“Kevin is back again, played a few minutes at West Ham,” he said.

“Aymeric is back, Nathan is so close, Gabriel is a week, ten days to returning.

“The rest will be two or three weeks, Sergio and Mendy.

“Sergio is not here. It was muscular. If you’re four or five months out with a knee problem, you have the risk.

“We tried to handle it the best as possible, 50-55 minutes in the games, but we weren’t able to do it.”

“We need everyone. This year, with this amount of games, we need everyone and everyone to be ready.”

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