Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed his interest in signing Leroy Sane from Schalke and John Stones from Everton.
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Kompany is established as skipper but is likely to miss the start of the season with a thigh injury.
The Citizens have been linked with the prodigious youngster continuously during the summer transfer window but remain reluctant to meet the Miners’ £40million valuation.
Manchester City had reportedly agreed to the £50 million payment demanded by Everton for the transfer of center back John Stones. “Everybody knows we’re going to try [to sign him] but I don’t know what’s going to happen”.
Everton value the 22-year-old at £50million-plus so there is some negotiation to be done yet and, as a result, Stones was on the squad list for Germany released by the club. What I see until now in every training session, they tried and tried and really want to play.
Guardiola moved to play down his involvement in any dietary decisions, but was clear that meeting fitness, conditioning and weight requirements was non-negotiable.
The Spaniard was celebrating a victory for the first time as Manchester City boss after young goalkeeper Angus Gunn saved three Dortmund penalties in a shootout following a 1-1 draw in their International Champions Cup game in Shenzhen.
“I want my players fit and for me the weight is so, so important”, Guardiola said during the team’s pre-season tour of China. If he stays, I’ll be happy for the Schalke fans, ‘ Guardiola told a media conference.
“That’ll be the flawless scenario, but things in football aren’t always like that so we’ll see how it goes over the next two weeks”, he said. “I guess the two of them are just great managers, but you could say the same for Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho”.
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Pep Guardiola fears football’s gruelling calendar is at risk of “killing players” as he admitted Manchester City are “far away” from being the team he firmly expects them to become under his management.
