According to the latest reports from Daily Mail, Pep Guardiola will persuade the board to try and sign a new centre back in January. Aymeric Laporte’s latest injury setback has been a significant cause for concern for the Spanish manager, and it is unlikely that he will play any football this year after going through a surgery.
Even though Laporte might be edging closer to coming back in January, Guardiola wants a new defender to come in. Everyone has raved about City’s squad depth, but one area where they cannot afford to have any setbacks is the centre back position.
Guardiola on why they didn’t sign a defender in the summer
The club also parted ways with Vincent Kompany in the summer once his contract had expired and the Premier League champions failed to find a replacement for him. Guardiola recently went on to say, ”The club told me there’s a limit, and we can’t go for it (a new defender) right now.”
The Cityzens were heavily linked with Leicester City’s Harry Maguire throughout the summer, but Manchester United went on to pay £80m for the English defender to lure him to Old Trafford. City meanwhile had spent big on Rodri and Joao Cancelo who came in for a combined value of £122m.
Right call from the manager?
John Stones has already turned out to be injury-prone, and with Laporte being out, it is understandable why the club would want to dive in the January market to bring in a new defender. With Champions League football also set to begin, the manager will hope that he can find a solution for the next 3-4 months atleast.
It remains to be seen whether the club would want to spend big and bring in another world-beater or would they look to make a shrewd signing. The board might have had a limit in the summer, but maybe they might open the vault for Guardiola for a big January arrival. However, bringing in top players in January is never easy as no club would want their first-team players to leave midway through the season. But, we all know that City have the financial power to lure in almost anyone they want.
What now for Guardiola?
The former Bayern Munich manager would hope that Nicolas Otamendi and Stones will remain injury-free for the next few months. As alternatives, Guardiola has already indicated that he might use Kyle Walker at the back. Joao Cancelo will then fill in at right-back. Experienced Brazilian international Fernandinho is also an alternative as he doesn’t need to fill in the defensive midfield role after the signing of Rodri.
