Guardiola rules out any January business for Man City

Pep Guardiola has unequivocally ruled out the possibility of Manchester City doing any business in the January transfer window.

After romping to the Premier League title last season, setting new records for wins, points and goals scored, City’s only major arrival ahead of 2018-19 was winger Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City.

And Guardiola’s men have begun the defence of their crown in impressive fashion, winning 10 and drawing two of their opening 12 fixtures to sit two points clear of nearest challengers Liverpool.

As such, Guardiola seems wholly content with the options at his disposal, and even a knee injury to Benjamin Mendy, which is likely to keep the full-back out for up to 12 weeks, will not persuade the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss to dip into the transfer market come the turn of the year.

“No. In January, no window,” Guardiola told a news conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to West Ham when asked about potentially looking for a back-up to Mendy.

“We are not going to spend anything. I am so happy with the squad, people are coming back so no, no.

Slow and steady wins the race… Pep knows! #mancity pic.twitter.com/roQ75kQXv6

— Manchester City (@ManCity) 23 November 2018

“It’s much, much, much better, of course [not to have to buy in January], but when we created the squad at the beginning of the season it was not to go to the January [window] except if we have problems.

“But I have a deep squad and a lot of players cannot play when I trust them a lot. They believe I don’t like them but that is not true, I trust a lot in all the players, all of them.

“It’s a joy to be with them but it is what it is, when there are some injuries another one is going to play. If not, you have a few players in the academy that maybe are going to help us in a few moments or a few minutes. We are not going to go to January in the market, no way.”

Earlier this week Guardiola stated his ambition to take an international head coaching role in the future, but at Friday’s media conference he spoke of his full commitment to City and hinted that he could extend his stay beyond 2021, after signing a new deal in May.

“I’m delighted to be here, I have everything a manager needs. I don’t rule anything out in terms of my contract. We will see,” he said.

“This is day by day. In two months, football can change every impression you have right now. You can miss [things in] the locker room, you can see the players don’t follow anymore and bad decisions [are made].

“It’s going to finish, our beautiful period here, but it’s going well and I’ll maybe stay longer. I don’t know.”