Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed his delight over seeing Vincent Kompany playing regularly, but admits he can’t rely on him moving forward.
It’s a strange time to make the admission considering the Belgian international has now made five consecutive starts for City and is enjoying his best spell of football in a long while.
However, ultimately his injury history will continue to count against him as he has struggled to steer clear of fitness problems for some time.
The Mirror note that both Leonardo Bonucci and Antonio Rudiger of Juventus and Roma respectively will be on the City radar this summer, as Guardiola has conceded that he will have to bring in a new defender as he simply can’t just depend on Kompany to fill the role next to John Stones throughout an entire campaign.
“When he’s in that form, there’s no doubt about that, but we have to cover our backs,” he is quoted as saying by The Mirror. “We cannot give all of our confidence he will be fit, because of what we’ve experienced the last few years.
“We have to have back-ups if something happens but, of course, with Vincent in that form it’s great.”
The intriguing part will be as whether or not Guardiola goes for a game-changing signing like Bonucci, with the Juve and Italy centre-half establishing himself as one of the best in Europe and a certain starter, or a player like Rudiger who is still improving all the time and would arguably be stiff competition for Kompany.
Either way, the Spanish tactician is expected to be a busy man this summer as he looks to significantly bolster his City squad. Having fallen short in his bid to win trophies this season, he will be looking to secure a top-four Premier League finish and that will be something to build on for him and his players.