Pep Guardiola insisted on Tuesday that he will continue working with Joe Hart at Manchester City, even as Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo flew in to replace the unwanted England worldwide.
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“I think Sergio is a great striker, everyone knows that”, the UAE 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup victor was quoted by ESPN FC as saying on Tuesday ahead of their return leg UEFA Champions League second leg fixture against Steaua Bucharest at home on Wednesday”.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) – Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has arrived in England to conclude a move to Manchester City.
Hart’s transformation from City’s number one for eight seasons to second, and possibly, third choice represents a remarkable turnaround for the 28-year-old.
The England global has been linked with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and Everton. “I want to tell them they have to be proud of the Manchester City players”.
City hope to strike a deal with West Ham for Wilfried Bony and Napoli have joined AC Milan and Valencia as a potential loan option for Eliaquim Mangala. “I am not able to speak about negotiations”.
“Hart and Yaya Touré have a chance to play tomorrow”, said Guardiola, who was seen in conversation with the goalkeeper at a training session on Tuesday.
Joe Hart is set to stay at Manchester City, with the 29-year-old conscious this will threaten his status as the England No1.
Toure, who was not always in favour with Guardiola during their time at Barcelona, is yet to feature for City this season, but the Spaniard suggested that could change on Wednesday.
“He will make good things happen for us and for the England national team, I’m pretty sure of that”, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added.
Sterling was loudly booed and jeered by Stoke fans at the Britannia Stadium at the weekend, but Guardiola insists the frmer Liverpool player should take it as a compliment. They didn’t press high, they stayed back – we have to play it to open up spaces and in the second half, we were much better. “But until a deal is complete, I can not answer”.
It is conceivable some of them could be moving on.
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“Look at the Champions League final with Liverpool and AC Milan – 3-0 at half-time and that was a Milan with many experienced players”. We could play and receive a red card inside ten minutes… then a penalty… then another red card ten minutes later!’
