Guardiola refuses to rule out huge City squad overhaul in the summer
13/01/2025
CFGA, Manchester, UK
13/01/2025
CFGA, Manchester, UK
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00:00A very top manager. From your point of view, is it a bit odd for the captain of your team to ask you mid-season to leave?
00:09Because he's the captain, right, he's the leader, and he would not be the leader if he did not have leadership qualities, which involves, you know, sort of being loyal and kind of leading the team.
00:18I don't know anything about that. It's always going to happen, it's going to happen at the end of the transfer window.
00:23He will be happy to stay, if he has to leave, it will happen. The rest I don't want to add anything else.
00:29So Brentford is my priority right now.
00:31OK, I respect that. Just speaking generally, if you look at your options at right-back, are you confident what you have here is good enough?
00:37Yeah.
00:40Jim?
00:42Pep, if obviously Kyle does go this month, obviously there's several of the key players over the past six, seven years who also have uncertain futures,
00:55obviously Kevin In, Ilkay, are out of contracts in the summer, the likes of Ederson, you know, Bernardo, Jon Stones have a year left in the summer.
01:02In the past, the club has always sort of staggered the departures of the big players.
01:08So Torre went in 2018, Kompany in 2019, Silva in 2020, Aguero 2021, Fernandinho 2022, not all gone in one go.
01:18Did you study, yeah?
01:19Yeah, that's right.
01:20Did you prepare well?
01:21This year, there is the potential, I'm not saying it will happen, but there is the potential that some big key players who have been a huge part of your success go in one go.
01:31Yeah.
01:32Does that present bigger potential challenges for you that you've maybe not faced before?
01:39No, it's not for me.
01:40It's for the club.
01:42So we knew at the beginning of the season that the team, for a question of time, will have 10, 11 players more than 30 years old.
01:50So this is normal.
01:51But the same team that are more than 30 years old, they had four fights six months ago, they won the Premier League four in a row,
01:57final in the FA Cup and quarter-final for the Champions League.
02:00So the team, but we knew it that sooner or later, we should have done it.
02:05What happened, it wasn't expected, but it happened.
02:08You know, in the modern football, for many, many clubs, the amount of injuries that we have, I didn't expect it.
02:13What happened, it happened a lot.
02:15And that's why the process that we have done, you have said before, with all the incredible legend players that happened here.
02:22So step by step, they have to change.
02:25The best way is to not…
02:28Congratulate.
02:29Yes, yes.
02:30But also in the first year, I would say we arrived with the same concept.
02:35In the second season, we make incredible changes.
02:40Nine, eight or nine players, they leave and arrive a lot.
02:46Now, I think it cannot happen because the inflection in football rises unbelievably.
02:53But sooner or later, it's a normal question of time.
02:57New players, young players will come.
02:59I don't know now, I don't know in summer, I don't know next season.
03:03But in the next two or three, the club has to, of course, do it for a question of age.
03:10Franz talked about how the club and Chiqui have generally planned windows 18 months in advance.
03:17They have been incredible at it.
03:19But if you were to say lose two or three of your key players of the past seven or eight years, this year…
03:27I was in the team, the club thought about to do it and I said no, I don't want to make any signs.
03:33I rely on the team and I want to stay with them.
03:36Just Savio came, Gundo back, it wasn't expected at the end, but he came back.
03:41Just Savio came and I said because I rely a lot on these guys and I thought still I can do it again,
03:48do it again with these guys and do it.
03:50But after the injuries, maybe we should have done it, but you never know in that position.
03:57But I think the team is really good and the squad is really, really good.
04:02I had that feeling.
04:03The central defence is exceptional, the footballers are exceptional and all the players that we had.
04:07Otherwise we cannot achieve what we achieved in the recent year,
04:10not in the four or five or six years ago, last season.
04:14But, yes, it is what it is.
04:17Do you think it's potentially going to be a little bit different to what you faced before,
04:22that you could for the first time…
04:24For me?
04:25Yes, in the sense that your squad you could potentially lose in the space of six months.
04:31I don't know.
04:32I don't know.
04:33What is pretty sure right now, who we are in the end of the season,
04:38maybe they continue all of them.
04:41Maybe they stay absolutely all the players here and not the players that we believe maybe we can do it.
04:48So at the end of the season, the end of the season,
04:50how are we going to decide the performance of them?
04:53That will dictate what you have to do.
04:56Hi, Pep.
04:58Just following on from what James was saying about refreshing the squad,
05:01not necessarily now but in the future,
05:04how tempting is it from the club's point of view to sign much younger players,
05:09players that are 19, 20, 21, that have amazing potential?
05:16And is it important to also sign players that are in the prime 26, 27, 28?
05:23I don't know.
05:24It's the market.
05:25I don't know what the club decides, which scouting departments,
05:28what is the best players to add.
05:31Sometimes important is how they will perform in the future.
05:35It doesn't matter if you have 24, 27, 80 or 90 years old.
05:39Of course, for Farhan, I would say it's better younger because, of course,
05:43they can split the budget and after future sales or whatever, it's much better.
05:48As a manager, I want to perform the players right as quick as possible
05:53because in the world of football, in the big clubs,
05:56I know things in the big clubs and everywhere,
06:00there's a need to perform quick.
06:03People don't wait.
06:05Next season, two seasons will be good.
06:07Nobody knows what will happen in my two seasons.
06:09What they want is a title tomorrow in the Premier League.
06:11This is the reality in football.
06:13Can I just ask about James McAtee?
06:16Were you able to categorically say that he will remain at the club this month?
06:22I would like to say categorically, yes, but I don't know.
06:26I would love.
06:28But at the same time, I don't know.
06:31But I would love to say, yeah.
06:33I was the one who said, if Sheffield didn't play, come here.
06:36I was the one to say, maybe a loan, no, no, I want McA here.
06:40Of course, he didn't play much minutes so far and I understand that,
06:43but I was the one that said, I want James here with us.
06:47What happens when they ask me all the time about the future?
06:55I don't answer because I don't know exactly,
06:58so it doesn't happen with James.
07:02You've got a little run of away games now.
07:04Brentford, Ipswich on Sunday and then PSG.
07:06I know that you don't usually look too far ahead,
07:09but do you feel that if results and performances were to go your way
07:12in this little tiny run, that it's the type of run
07:14that can maybe change the outlook of your season,
07:17the mood of the players, the mood of the fans,
07:20if you were to win those three games?
07:24We're not able to win a game from the last month, month and a half.
07:30I said many times, we have a perspective of the last month
07:33that's not really, really good in terms of results,
07:36even sometimes in a performance that's not very good.
07:40I've been a manager already with 102 games.
07:43I would say 485, more or less, or 480 have been outstanding.
07:53We lost some games, but we won a lot.
07:55With a perspective, we make 10, 12, 30, not really good results.
08:00I'm not even going to define my perspective about that players,
08:03but altogether what they have done for this period.
08:07That's why it's not going to change the fact that we won the last three games
08:10or going to have the next three games.
08:12In my mind, I've always been like that, it's Brentford.
08:15I cannot expect to think about it more than that,
08:18but I know how difficult it is.
08:19I know the top form from Ipwich right now, Paris, what can I say?
08:24It's one at a time which players we have available,
08:29because the last two months have always been like this.
08:31The line-up was in the last moment, this player can play a few minutes,
08:35this player can play, don't play, and after that I already decide.
08:38This is the truth.
08:39Just on the state of the squad then, the injuries,
08:41are you feeling like the squad, in terms of the amount of minutes
08:43they're able to play, that situation is easing a little bit?
08:46I know you've still got absences with Ruben and John Stones and people,
08:49but do you feel you're becoming more comfortable with the squad and what they can do?
08:53Absolutely, the question has been answered in the most common sense,
08:57as much as we have.
08:59I said this time, all the success we've had in the past,
09:02with the quadruple, local, and the treble, and leagues,
09:06and FA Cup finals, semi-finals all the time,
09:08we have injuries but not much.
09:10We were few, few.
09:13And there are a lot of reasons for the injuries.
09:16Maybe you lose the focus, maybe you get old,
09:18maybe we train differently, more intense,
09:21because we don't have players for many, many details that I don't have an answer.
09:25Of course we thought about that, what is the reason why in the past
09:28we didn't have much, and now we have this season a lot.
09:31But I would like to know the real answer is that.
09:34There are little, little details.
09:36We are so stable in that for incredible departments that we have,
09:40we could not sustain that.
09:42But of course, as much players we have back, you know, they'll be better.
09:50You spoke about the defensive selection problems that you've had this season with injuries.
09:55John Stones has obviously been a key player for you the last few years.
09:59What's his situation? Is he anywhere near coming back?
10:01I spoke with him now, he said he feels better.
10:04But in the past he always felt better, and he just can't play 40 minutes, 45 minutes.
10:08So that's why you had to maybe take a little bit longer to be sure
10:11that when he comes back he cannot make a step back.
10:14This is the situation with John.
10:17So that's been a repeat thing for you, hasn't it?
10:19He's come back and then he's got injured again.
10:22It's not easy for him, it's not easy for them.
10:24They make the effort to come back, to try it.
10:26I asked him to make an effort against United,
10:29and he helped us for a while with the players,
10:33but at the end he cannot play more than 45 minutes.
10:36And that is not good.
10:37At the end you have to recover well, we need more time, more time.
10:40It's a risk to lose games without him.
10:42It happened this season, so it's important that when you come back
10:45you can make a game, or be ready to play every three days.
10:50You said to Jamie that you're happy with the options,
10:53you'll have it right back if Kyle is to go.
10:55Apart from Rico, what are the options?
10:57I'm so clever.
11:00I'm so talented manager to find the right solution.
11:04You've got a few ideas as to what you'll do?
11:06Because you might have a lot of games,
11:08particularly if there's a Champions League play-off,
11:10there's going to be a lot of games, isn't there?
11:12Listen, Kyle is our player right now, so that's all.
11:18So we have the option.
11:21But what's going to happen, I don't know.
11:23Okay, thank you guys.