Pep Guardiola has hinted that Manchester City would be regarded as "a small club" if they stood in the way of one of their players joining a Premier League rival.

City won the treble last season, defending their Premier League crown, winning the FA Cup and lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time in their history.

That is despite City having given the green light to highly-regarded players moving to their foes in England, with Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus joining Arsenal and Raheem Sterling making the switch to Chelsea.

In the most recent transfer window, Cole Palmer was also allowed to join the Blues and the latest player who is being linked with a move away from the Etihad Stadium is Kalvin Phillips.

Despite costing £42m in 2022, the England international has made just two starts in the Premier League, with it already being acknowledged by Guardiola that the 27-year-old could move elsewhere in January.

While a wide array of clubs - both domestic and abroad - have been linked with Phillips, it has been alleged that City would not want to allow him to join one of their biggest challengers for another top-flight title.

However, speaking last week, as quoted by talkSPORT, Guardiola has stated that he would never stand in the way of a player joining another club if it suited all parties.

The Spaniard said: "Never. Never ever [would I stand in the way]. From my point of view, I have said this to the club many times. I give my opinion to the club and they decide if the transfer suits for both sides and the player.

"Why? I think that means you are a small club. Big clubs, they don't care. They make decisions for the benefit of all three parties, players and both clubs – and the agents sometimes. So really it is not a problem.‌

"If they want to go to Chelsea or [Manchester] United or, I don't know, Liverpool, whatever, what is the problem? They are happy to be there and the club is happy with the transfer.

"The other club is happy with the amount of money they spend, so it is fine. Another player will come to us and we keep going in a good spirit and a good mood."

A recent report suggested that Phillips' preferred destination at this stage was Newcastle United, who are in the market for a replacement for Sandro Tonali.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus have also been credited as admirers in Phillips, who again failed to get on the pitch as City played out a classic 4-4 draw with Chelsea on Sunday.