How will Manchester City fill the void left by Kevin De Bruyne?Pep Guardiola will try to play without his star midfielder, according to Rob Dawson.
Pep Guardiola claims that Manchester City will make a move to replace Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian midfielder underwent surgery to repair a hamstring problem, and is now sidelined until the new year.
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Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol cost City more than £100 million ($127.3m) each this summer, but Guardiola claims that more new players are required due to De Bruyne’s prolonged absence.
“We are talking a lot with [director of football] Txiki [Begiristain] about what we have to do, maybe we need to add someone else,” Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday.
He is a crucial player, and the time frame is more than one or two weeks. Four to five months have passed. As a result, we must consider the squad and what we must accomplish.
In addition to a new midfielder, City is seeking for a new winger to take Riyad Mahrez’s place after he signed a £30 million agreement with Al Ahli.
Jérémy Doku of Rennes is one possibility, but Guardiola maintains City won’t overpay for targets despite the approaching September 1 deadline.
“We have to see what happens in the market and if we can do it and pay what we believe is fair,” added Guardiola.
“We wanted [Harry] Maguire but chose not to pay for him, we wanted [Marc] Cucurella but chose not to pay for him, and we wanted Alexis Sanchez but chose not to pay for him. In the end, we will only charge what is justifiable. If not, there is the academy.
The biggest spenders this summer were Chelsea, who spent about £350 million ($445.7 million) on new players.
Romeo Lavia’s $53 million transfer to Southampton has increased their spending on transfers to almost $1 billion in the past year, which Guardiola claims would earn City harsh criticism if they had followed a similar path.
He stated, “For Chelsea, it’s definitely simpler than us.”
“You would murder me if I sat here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the last two transfer windows. I can assure you that you will kill me. We would be the subject of intense scrutiny.
“They are free to do as they choose. I make no criticisms whatsoever of Chelsea. I’m suggesting that if we do it, everyone in the globe will perish. They are free to act as they like.
