The Catalan has proved he will make tough choices in his first season in the Premier League after leaving Joe Hart on the bench for their opening day win against Sunderland, a decision that surprised many fans and pundits because the beloved England global has been a loyal custodian at the Etihad Stadium.
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“He is a player of us and he is training incredible, but I was not sure if he was going to play, and so I prefer it if he stays there training good in Manchester”, the manager said.
Sporting Lisbon’s Rui Patricio had also been discussed by the Premier League club as Pep Guardiola looks to bring in a new No 1.
However, speaking after the Sunderland game, the former Bayern Munich manager said he expected a positive reaction from those players like Wilfried Bony and Samir Nasri who have been excluded. “I know Yaya from Barcelona, how he loves to play football”.
“We are maybe a month and a half together and there was no training session they didn’t show me how good professionals, how good players they are, not any”.
“I know I’ve got to fight for my place. But its not a personal problem about any player”.
At the start of his first season as Barcelona manager that was the third qualifying round, whereas Tuesday night’s contest with Steaua Bucharest is now termed the play-off round, but the stakes remain identical. That’s why I eventually opted to leave.
“If he had talked to me, I would have stayed at Barcelona”.
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The 33 year old, played a key role for Chile this summer as they went on to lift their consecutive Copa America title. “However, he had no faith in me”.
