EPL: Guardiola Admits Potential Mistake Over Summer Transfer Strategy

• Pep Guardiola acknowledges he may have erred in advising Manchester City not to sign new players last summer.
• City are close to finalizing a £33.6m deal for defender Abdukodir Khusanov, with additional targets including Omar Marmoush and Vitor Reis.
• Kyle Walker is allowed to explore possible moves abroad as City aims to strengthen their squad this January.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, admitted he might have been wrong to advise the club to forgo signing new players last summer.

City, currently in need of reinforcements, are expected to make moves in the transfer market this month to prevent their season from deteriorating further.

The club has not made a significant January signing since Aymeric Laporte joined from Athletic Bilbao for £57m in 2018.

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City are nearing the completion of a £33.6m deal for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov, the Uzbekistan international.

Guardiola is also looking to strengthen the squad by targeting Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush, as well as Palmeiras’ promising teenage defender Vitor Reis.

Meanwhile, veteran full-back Kyle Walker has been given permission to explore potential moves abroad.

“In the summer the club thought about it and I said ‘no, I don’t want to make any signings’,” said Guardiola on the eve of Tuesday’s Premier League game at Brentford.

“I relied a lot on these guys and thought I can do it again.

“But after the injuries – wow – maybe we should have done it.”

Pep Guardiola insists that injuries are the primary factor behind his team’s slide to sixth place in the Premier League, their elimination from the EFL Cup, and their current position of 22nd out of 36 in the Champions League standings. They now face a tough challenge to secure a top-24 finish and a place in the play-offs.

According to Transfermarkt, City has dealt with 15 injury-related absences of two weeks or more, with the most significant being Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who has been ruled out for the season.

Defenders John Stones and Ruben Dias will miss the upcoming match against Brentford, and Guardiola has yet to decide whether Kyle Walker will be included in the squad.

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“We knew at the beginning of the season we will have a lot of players over 30,” he said.

“We knew sooner or later, we should do it. Step by step we had to change.

“But five or six months ago, they won the Premier League, four in a row, reached the FA Cup final and quarter-final of the Champions League. The amount of injuries we had, I didn’t expect it.”

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