Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola wanted to add players from Arsenal and Bayern Munich to his squad, it has been revealed by the Times.
An in-depth report on City’s superb title-winning season explains the changes Guardiola has made at the Etihad Stadium, with detail about his work on the training pitch and in the transfer market.
The Times reports that City are happy with their transfer business that saw them sign Ederson in goal and spend a considerable sum on full-backs, something which was widely mocked at the start of the season.
Still, it has paid off now and it’s clear this has been identified as an area of weakness by Guardiola as he assessed the squad he inherited when he made the move to Manchester.
The Times claim Guardiola also made enquiries about signing Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer before settling on the players they did bring in in those areas.
Arsenal will be relieved not to have lost one of their key young players to a major rival, though they don’t have the best recent track record in that department, losing Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United and Olivier Giroud to Chelsea in January.