Manchester City looking for new left-back admits Pep Guardiola

The Citizens are looking at replacements for Benjamin Mendy who has been plagued by injuries during his time at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted his injury concerns over Benjamin Mendy and has thought of signing his replacement in the summer transfer window.

The former AS Monaco left-back has managed to make 16 Premier League appearance since joining the Citizens back in 2017 with serious injuries continuing to haunt him in the process. The French World Cup winner has in the squad as Guardiola's men sneak out a 1-0 win against West Ham United. But Guardiola now has admitted that he is still a long way from his full fitness and would not have taken the field for the game at Etihad.

"I don't know what's going to happen but we are thinking about the chance to find some players in that position," Guardiola said on Friday.

"Today he (Mendy) is not fit. It (injury) happened two seasons, it can happen three. Hopefully not, he's working on that, but the truth is we have only been able to use him a few games, that is the reality.

"So at the end the strongest guys are there every day and that is the truth, so that is why we are looking maybe for next season."

After a stellar season in England, Pep Guardiola has again brought glory to the club once again as the citizens have already bagged the Carabao Cup defeating Chelsea in the penalty shootouts. City will now travel to Bournemouth for their next game in the league title race as they trail only by a point to Klopp's Liverpool. Guardiola's men are also in a comfortable position in the Champions League beating Schalke 2-3 away from home and will face Swansea City in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup later this month as Guardiola aims at an unprecedented quadruple this season.

Despite all the domination in almost all competitions, the Spaniard is still keen to strengthen his side next season.

"There are three or four positions I think we have to try to look for and some ideas we have," Guardiola said. "I don't know in the end what's going to happen, but it's an option to buy a left-back.

"You know holding midfielder we are going to try and another position we are thinking about."

The reigning Premier League Champions are also in the fight to hold Ilkay Gundogan at the Etihad as the German holding midfield has rejected the club's new contract so far.

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The former Dortmund midfielder has shown intent of running down his contract till 2020 as he believes that his next move will be his last major one in his career, considering he is already 28 years old.

"He knows what we want. He knows what we think about him but the same as other cases we've spoken about in the past, at the end the last decision is not in our hands," Guardiola said.

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"We try to speak with him. We want him to extend the contract right now. Yesterday would have been better than today and today better than tomorrow, but if he doesn't want, we cannot do anything else. If he 100 per cent (wanted to stay), the deal would be done."

Despite all the domination and silverware, Pep Guardiola is in a tricky situation with someone like Fernandinho who is on the wrong side of thirty and needs to be replaced. Now on top of that they may need a replacement for Gundogan as well if he sticks to his original decision. A new left-back also seems an obvious option next season with Mendy's persistent injury concerns.