Pep Guardiola has claimed that "anything can happen" in the race to sign Kylian Mbappe, suggesting that Manchester City and Real Madrid are financially on an equal footing.
It was reported on Tuesday that Los Blancos had agreed a £161m bid with AS Monaco for the 18-year-old, while Man City were rumoured to be matching the world-record offer.
Guardiola suggested that their pursuit of Mbappe is not over yet ahead of Man City's pre-season clash against Madrid on Thursday, claiming "anything can happen" when asked about the player's future at his pre-match press conference.
"The player is still at Monaco - still on that team," Guardiola said in Spanish, translated by a City representative at his press conference. "Anything can happen - we are still looking at a lot of other players, but he is still on that team.
"Madrid doesn't have more than Manchester City has. There's a lot of teams that are playing in the Champions League that are in the Premier League. Players are always important and we always try to get the best players possible. Abu Dhabi came in and they invested in the team and over the past few years we've climbed to the top.
"We've come a long way but in order to get to the level of Barcelona and Real Madrid we just need time... we will see until the end of the transfer window."
Last season, Mbappe scored 15 goals in 29 outings as Monaco won the Ligue 1 title, while he netted a further six times in nine games during his club's run to the Champions League semi-finals.
Giuseppe Labellarte
