We are not going to spend anything in January- Pep Guardiola

Published at :November 24, 2018 at 12:26 PM

Modified at :November 24, 2018 at 12:26 PM

The Cityzens signed Frenchman Aymeric Laporte in the winter transfer window last season.

Pep Guardiola assures that Manchester City are not looking forward to the January transfer window as they won't be adding to their squad this season. Guardiola's assurance also rules out the arrival of a defensive midfielder after the Cityzens lost out on Jorginho to Chelsea in the last transfer window.

The Spaniard has also claimed that he won't change his mind even due to Benjamin Mendy's latest injury layoff. Mendy who was injured for most of the last season has no direct replacement in the squad as a left back. The Frenchman now can be unavailable till mid-February following a surgery in his left knee.

Guardiola said: “No. In January — no window. We are not going to spend anything. I am so happy with the squad, people are coming back, so no.” By the happening of events, it seems last summer's record signing of Leicester City star Riyad Mahrez will remain the only addition for the citizens this season after they clinched the Premier League title last season.

City did have some defensive woes to fix last winter and hence Pep opted to secure the services of Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a fee of around £57m. But the former Barcelona manager has decided not to make any move this time in the winter.

“It’s much much, much better (not to buy in January). When we created the squad at the beginning of the season, it was to not go to the January (window) except (if) we have problems", he added.

“But I have a deep squad and a lot of players cannot play when I trust them a lot. They believe I don’t like them but that is not true! I trust a lot in all the players, all of them and it’s a joy to be with them", as the Spaniard continued.

Guardiola further spoke on any injury scare, "When there are some injuries another one is going to play and, if not, you have a few players in the Academy that maybe are going to help us in a few moments or few minutes. We are not going to go to January in the market, no way.”

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Meanwhile West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini remains positive and believe that his team will take the game to the reigning champions when they face them today afternoon despite shambolic results in the recent past.

City have emerged victorious in their last three trips to the London stadium with 4-1, 4-0 and 5-0 being the respective score line. The Citizens are also on red-hot form this season as they have already racked up five wins with five or more goals.

Despite the results and their current form, Pellegrini shares his plans to be competitive with the reigning champions and compete with them to the best to his abilities.

“If you make a mistake, they have players who will take advantage. But they also have had difficult games this season. Lyon played well against them."

Standings provided by Sofascore LiveScore

The defending champions sit atop the league without facing a defeat in this season so far

“Wolves played a good game against them. Liverpool and Tottenham played good games against them.

“Of course, we consider who we are playing. But we are not going to play the game just to have a draw and not to concede too many goals. We are going to try to use the game as a good test.”

Pellegrini who was replaced by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City holds no such hard feelings for the Spanish tactician. Pellegrini in his stay of 3 years at the Etihad won the Premier League once and League Cups twice along with reaching Champions League semifinals.

The Pep-Pellegrini rivalry was also imminent during Pellegrini's time at Real Madrid. The Los Blancos earned a record-breaking 96 points in the league but were still short of Pep's Barcelona side.

To which he said: “I have a good relationship with Pep, I have no problems with him. He was always a rival with me."

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“With Manchester City, I played twice against him with Bayern Munich and also with Real Madrid and Malaga when he was at Barcelona. Now we are going to play City against West Ham.

“I think he is a good manager who manages the team in the way I like to do also. To lose the title with 96 points and scoring 105 goals is not an easy way to do it — but that’s football and that’s why it is the most popular sport in the world.”