Pep Guardiola: Man City could not afford to buy Vincent Kompany replacement

In charge: Pep Guardiola
Action Images via Reuters

Pep Guardiola claims he didn’t have the funds to replace Vincent Kompany this summer.

Kompany walked away from Manchester City at the end of last season after 10 trophy-laden years at the Etihad - taking over as player-manager at Anderlecht.

Harry Maguire was Guardiola’s dream replacement for the Belgian - but the Premier League champions couldn’t compete with the £80m fee paid by Manchester United for the England international.

Now Guardiola claims he didn’t have money to bring in any alternative targets after signing Rodri, Joao Cancelo and Angelino at a combined cost of around £130m.

With Ayneric Laporte sustaining a knee injury in Saturday’s 4-0 win against Brighton, City will have to turn to Fernandinho as cover in defence, while academy prospect Eric Garcia may also be required.

Guardiola said: “We could not buy like the opponents or teams offer us or ask for these players.

“Of course we spent a lot two seasons ago, but last season one player, this season a little bit more, so we could not pay the money wanted.

“But we have an alternative and sometimes when that happens, the team unites better and we are going to find solutions to do that.

“The club works incredibly well in all departments and sometimes we cannot afford it like other teams afford it and that is all. We pay a lot of money for a lot of players, that is why we have a depth of squad with huge quality, but we cannot do.

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“The club tell me, you have a limit, you cannot go forward. Maybe in the future, but not now, you cannot do it.

“I say, OK, you cannot do it so we cannot do it so we are going with what we have.”

John Stones is set to return from a thigh injury after the international break, but Laporte’s knee damage has hit Guardiola and his squad hard.

He was undergoing tests over the weekend to ascertain the full damage, but manager and players fear the worst after already seeing Leroy Sane suffer an ACL injury.

City midfielder Rodri said: “He's a very important player for the team and it's going to be tough without him. We've lost two big players. Leroy and now Aymer.

“This is football, this is how it works, but I think we have enough in the team to cope with it.

“We have to support our team-mate, we hope he's going to be back soon and we have to stay together to fix this kind of moment.

“It's good that the team will be close and together. it's what we have to do, there is nothing more we can do than that."

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