February 19, (THEWILL) – As Manchester City look poised to successfully defend their English Premier League title and again compete favourably for the elusive UEFA League honour, manager Pep Guardiola, has confessed that after failing to sign Harry Kane last summer, he doubted whether he had a squad capable of competing for titles this season.
Guardiola and the club management at City were tight-lipped about their interest in Kane at the time, even though the Spurs striker was open about his desire to leave the capital until the very end of the transfer period in the summer of last year.
Guardiola spoke about the summer saga that never was on the eve of hosting Kane and Spurs to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
“Now you can say ‘Harry Kane didn’t come and everything is going well’ but at the time I didn’t know it,” Guardiola admitted. “We tried but Tottenham were clear that it was not going to happen.
“When that happens two, three, four times, it’s over.”After that we saw the squad and we were not sure. We then lost at Spurs and against Leicester in the Community Shield.
“I never was disappointed in what the club cannot do in the transfer market. I’ve never created a fire here. When we have some talks and we cannot agree, we do it internally.”
Six months later, Kane’s chances of working under Guardiola appear to be dwindling, thanks to the Citizens’ signing of promising forward Julian Alvarez from River Plate, who has already impressed Guardiola.
“The club is always working, it never stops. If five players say they want to leave, we have to be ready,” Guardiola added.”
Speaking of Alvarez, who is expected to move to City in the summer, the Spanish manager enthused: “Julian scored three goals in the last game for River Plate and Man City made an incredible deal because he is a player who moves really well.
“The goals he scores are like Jamie Vardy’s. We’ll see what happens in the future.”
Guardiola was also ecstatic with the form of his current forwards, particularly Raheem Sterling, who are successfully sharing his team’s goal-scoring burden.
“With the players we have, we have to adapt. Raheem’s goals are a consequence of his confidence. I am very glad that he is back to his best.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
