SM
Spurs vs. Man United: 17 hrs 43 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
Collect News Data

Pep Guardiola stands firm over stance for £100m-rated players

:Headline: Pep Guardiola stands firm over stance for £100m-rated players:
The Manchester City manager continues to play down the chances of a £100million-plus signing this summer.
Sports Mole

Pep Guardiola has hailed the abilities of Erling Haaland but defended Manchester City’s reluctance to spend over £100million on any player.

City continue to be linked with the highly-rated Borussia Dortmund striker despite Guardiola insisting his valuation puts him beyond the reach of the club.

City will get a close look at the Norwegian as they take on Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the first leg of which takes place at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Pep Guardiola rates Erling Haaland highly but has played down speculation linking the Norwegian with Manchester City (Clive Brunskill/PA)

Haaland, 20, has scored 39 goals for club and country this season including 10 in six Champions League appearances.

Manager Guardiola said: “The only thing I can say is that, with his age, he is an exceptional striker. The numbers speak for themselves and he’s a fantastic player – that’s all.

“To score that number of goals at his age is not easy to find. When that happens it’s because he can score with the right, the left, the counter-attacks, in the box.

“He’s a fantastic striker, everyone knows it. A blind guy would realise he’s a good striker. It’s not necessary to be a manager to realise it.”

Speculation linking City with Haaland has intensified over the past week following confirmation Sergio Aguero is to leave the club at the end of the season.

Haaland has scored 10 goals in six Champions League appearances this season (Federico Gambarini/POOL)

Haaland’s agent is reported to have already met with representatives of Barcelona and Real Madrid ahead of what could be a huge bidding war for one of the hottest properties in the game.

Haaland would command a fee well in excess of £100million and Guardiola said last week City would not pay such prices.

He has not ruled out that happening in the future but he feels the current policy makes sense.

He said: “The fact we have not spent, for one player, a lot of money, gives you advantage. Football is a team game, everyone makes his contribution. It’s not just one player, it’s for absolutely everyone.

“So far the club has decided not to spend close to £100million for a player, or more than £100million on a player. Maybe in the future it is going to happen if they decide it is necessary to improve the team for the next five, 10 years, for many reasons, but so far the club, the organisation, the CEO, the sporting director decided not to do it and that’s why they didn’t do it.”

“It remained in my head for weeks. It was painful. I cannot deny that.”
- Pep Guardiola

City are through to the last eight of the Champions League for a fourth successive year but have gone out at this stage in each of the past three seasons.

Guardiola admitted the loss to Lyon in last year’s one-off clash in Lisbon was particularly hard to take.

He said: “It remained in my head for weeks. It was summertime and it was painful. I cannot deny that.

“It was the last game of the season and we wanted to go through but we congratulated Lyon, accepted we didn’t do it well or didn’t deserve to go through.

“Yes it was painful but at the end what can we do? After a short time, 10 days, we wake up again and prepare for next season.

“We qualified for the Champions League and we are here again, to try again.”

body check tags ::

amp_article__441954 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2021-04-05 15:58:18:
html db last update - 2021-04-05 15:58:18 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html

Click here for more stories about Pep Guardiola

Click here for more stories about Manchester City

Share this article now:


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!
Read more about Pep Guardiola Erling Braut Haaland Sergio Aguero Football
Follow @SportsMole for the latest breaking news stories, and follow @sm_headlines to get every headline from Sports Mole
Recommended Next on SM
Do Ruben Amorim's comments suggest he wants to keep or sell "talented" Rashford?
Diallo, Isak and who else? Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week
Manchester City planning Josko Gvardiol move?

Page options

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

history www

The top 10 football matches of all time

1

TT

History made! Real Madrid triumph in inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup

2

HM

Preview: Stockport vs. Peterborough - prediction, team news, lineups

3

PS

Team News: Chelsea vs. Shamrock injury, suspension list, predicted XIs

4

TN

Could Williams replace Rashford at Man United?

5

CW

Preview: Bayern vs. RB Leipzig - prediction, team news, lineups

6

PB

Could unsettled Man United star Rashford complete a spectacular move to Man City?

7

CU

Ancelotti makes history in Real Madrid's Intercontinental Cup success

8

AM

Man United 'rubbish' Garnacho claims as stance over leaks revealed

9

MU

'I want to play for one of the best teams' - Gyokeres opens up on future plans

10

'W


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .