Pep Guardiola's Man City transfer stance becomes clear ahead of January window

A depleted Citizens squad that has suffered a significant dip in form has won just one of their last 10 matches across all competitions, losing seven of those including a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus on Wednesday.

While Man City are in danger of failing to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League, their Premier League title hopes are hanging by a thread, as the reigning champions sit fourth in the table and eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

Guardiola is having to cope without Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who is sidelined for the rest of the season with a long-term knee injury, and City have subsequently been tipped to sign a new defensive midfielder in the New Year.

A host of players have been linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium, including Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi, Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes, Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton, Atalanta BC's Ederson and AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders.

Guardiola: 'I want my players back, not new ones'

However, the January transfer window is known to be a difficult market to operate in and Man City have rarely dipped into their pockets during the winter period; their two senior additions since 2016 have been Gabriel Jesus (£27m in 2017) and Aymeric Laporte (£57m in 2018).

Speaking at a pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's Premier League Manchester derby against rivals Manchester United, Guardiola was asked about the prospect of Man City signing new players and whether he will have money to spend in January.

The Catalan coach said: "No. What I want is my players back, the players that we have! I would desperately love to compete with the squad that we had at the beginning of the season.

"I said many times. This is the only regret that I have; I don't have the players, THESE players, not new ones. But in the certain moment, the right moment, we will see."

Guardiola has congratulated Man City after the club issued their annual report confirming a third consecutive year of record-breaking revenues, increasing to £715m, with sustained profitability at £73.8m.

City turned over £139m in profit from player sales and seemingly have the funds to splash the cash on reinforcements, but Guardiola has suggested otherwise.

Guardiola unsure if Man City will have January funda available

"The fact that the club have revenue that I must congratulate the club, and the CEO, and Khaldoon [Al Mubarak], and all the people involved in that, because the club must be sustainable," said Guardiola.

"That doesn't mean we have big, big resources to buy whoever we want. Especially today, the transfer market, how expensive is everything, and we proved in the last four, five years, I'm sorry, we are not the best in those terms."

Guardiola has insisted that he has sufficient squad depth when all of his players are back fit and available for selection, adding: "When I have [Mateo] Kovacic and [Ilkay Gundogan], I don't need a replacement in that position. When I don't have wingers for the injuries that we had this season, I need wingers.

"When Erling [Haaland] is away, I have Oscar Bobb and Phil Foden to play there and we will have the same goals. If you tell me these players will be fine in this position, we need that, we will go to the transfer market.

"But I don't know which one because it depends. If we have the four central defenders, I don't need central defenders."

Man City will be without six players for the Manchester derby, five of which are injured while Rico Lewis is suspended after he was sent off in last weekend's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.

Written by

Oliver Thomas