City are now in China on their pre-season tour but continue to be linked with a series of big-money transfers, with the Toffees centre-half said to be top of their list.
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Midfielder Fabian Delph, who joined his boss to meet the press before Wednesday’s workout, said City’s players knew what they were in for when Guardiola signed on. An example of this could be Samir Nasri, who spent the majority of the season out through injury and surgery was one of the players told to slim down in order to make the cut for next season.
The BBC have reported that while no deal is yet in place between the two clubs, a formal agreement is not far off – and the £50m that Everton are demanding will be near enough the final fee.
Dortmund v City kicks off at 9.30pm AEST (12.30pm UK) on Thursday and will be streamed live online.
But City want to complete a deal for less than the £50m valuation placed on Stones by the Merseyside club. Guardiola also wants to assess Jason Denayer, the 21-year-old centre-back. Fernando can also play there, but maybe he is not as quick as Fernandinho.
“He’s an ideal manager for any kind of player”, he said.
“I thought it was the best decision for me and my career”. Believe me, it was the right decision not to play on it. “And the strikers are going to score a lot of goals because we are going to create chances”, he felt.
“I don’t think it’s a big problem, we have people like Vincent, Joe [Hart], Yaya, Pablo [Zabaleta] as well”.
“I’ve trained only a few weeks with Guardiola and I was eight years with Wenger”, he said. It’s a reason for me to come here but not the only one. They have to decide who the real captain is for them.
“I am not in the locker room, the dressing room, or their own meetings when they have to change something”. They are so strong, that’s why I’m so happy how we did.
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Despite the intense conditions in the surrounding areas at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, the venue of the 2008 Olympics, City’s new Catalan coach insists the match against Manchester United could have gone ahead if there was a better pitch. Dortmund have added well to their attacking threat and will be desperate to finish closer to Bayern Munich, while this is Manchester City’s first campaign under new manager Pep Guardiola.
