MX23RW : Friday, November 8 22:29:33| >> :60:89:89:

Pep Guardiola: 'Not even Manchester City can afford 22 top players'

Guardiola: 'City cannot afford 22 top players'
© SilverHub
Pep Guardiola insists that no football team can afford "22 top players" following Manchester City's snub of Alexis Sanchez in the January transfer window.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stressed that no football team can afford "22 top players".

The Premier League leaders spent £215m last summer and, according to a ranking by event organiser Soccerex, have more financial firepower than any other club in world football.

Earlier in January, however, Man City pulled out of the race to sign Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, who ended up leaving Arsenal to join rivals Manchester United instead.

Sanchez is thought to be earning more than £350,000 per week at Old Trafford, and City were reportedly unwilling to agree to demands that would have made him the highest-paid player in their squad.

"When you want to handle four competitions sometimes you have to be lucky with injuries," Guardiola told Sky Sports News. "Otherwise you need 22 top players for every position. People don't believe this, but today 22 top players is too expensive to buy, even [for] City.

"Their salaries we cannot pay. There are budgets for the transfers and we cannot pay. In the future, it may change but we haven't paid more than £80m-£100m for one player. We cannot pay that right now, it is the truth.

"That's why we need the academy to fight. Of course, we spend a lot money but it is the same money as a lot of other teams. I can assure you we are not the only team in the world that spend money."

City have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte after matching his £57m release clause, which would break the club's transfer record of £55m spent on Kevin De Bruyne.

ID:317253: cacheID:317253:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2874:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Eden Hazard in action during the Champions League game between Chelsea and Qarabag on September 12, 2017
Read Next:
Man City 'to offer £150m for Eden Hazard'
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
FT
Bengals
34-35
Ravens
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!