Calm outside the window after transfer season storms
Manchester City had a €60million deadline-day bid for the Alexis Sanchez accepted by Arsenal but a move did not go through because the Gunners could not secure a replacement.
And with Raheem Stirling strongly linked with a switch to the Emirates as a makeweight in the deal, the England international may not be entirely sure of his standing in Guardiola’s squad.
Stirling misses today’s clash with his old club through suspension, but Guardiola insists he was never going to allow the winger to leave the club, indicating it was Arsenal making the running on a possible swap.
He said: “They talked to me and I said, ‘No chance, zero chance, not one per cent chance to make a swap with Alexis and Raz’.
“He is 22, English. He has a lot to improve (but) I trust a lot in him.
“The only deal, if possible, was cash. We tried to make an offer.
“They accepted but in the end they could not sign the player they wanted to sign, (so) Alexis stayed in Arsenal.”
With Sanchez out of contract next summer it is thought City could move for the player again in January but Guardiola has now switched his focus away from player recruitment.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the wintertime or next season. He’s an Arsenal player.
“Of course we were interested in him (but) at the end Arsenal decided not to sell him. So, all the best for Alexis. I know him from Barcelona. And that’s all. Sometimes the deals work, sometimes not.”
Jurgen Klopp has his own concerns with playmaker Philippe Coutinho courted heavily by Barcelona throughout the window. The Brazilian handed in a transfer request and declared himself unfit to play for Liverpool so far this season, but played for 47 minutes in two substitute appearances for the national team last week, scoring a trademark goal against Ecuador.
Coutinho will not play for Liverpool today, but Klopp insists his midfield man did nothing “unforgivable” during Barcelona’s pursuit of him, insisting lack of fitness is the only thing that keeps him out of his plans for the Etihad visit.
“I can explain it a little - maybe a few of you have had a split in a good relationship, with your wife or whatever, and it is not good to think about the time you were split,” said Klopp.
“It was not the most easy time, but that is the transfer window. It is not the first time and it won’t be the last time in history when similar things will happen.
“I really think we handled it really well. Not all the things in newspapers were 100% right but it is normal a lot of things were coming up in a situation like this.
“But nothing I am aware of was unforgivable. The most important thing is no one told me anything where I thought ‘Oh, that is too much’.
“He came in yesterday, accepted 100% the situation - I didn’t even have to say anything about it.”
Coutinho returned to the club’s Melwood training ground on Thursday after flying home from South America in a private jet with club-mate Roberto Firmino, Manchester City trio Ederson, Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus and Chelsea’s Willian.
He spoke briefly with Klopp, when the manager told him he did not think it was worth the risk of playing him against City when he was not fit enough, and then trained for 90 minutes.
Klopp praised the Brazilian’s attitude after numerous claims from within his camp, including suggestions he could refuse to play for the club again, about what he would do to force a move to Barcelona.
“We had a very good talk, he was in a very good mood and training was even better,” he added.
“But I had to make the decision. We have seven games in the next three weeks, so there will not be the time to train.
“Before he went to Brazil he couldn’t train for about three weeks so that means we need to try to prepare him for the rest of the season and that is quite difficult with our schedule.
“So I decided to leave him out of the squad for City so we can use these four or five days for proper training. He could have played 15-20 minutes in the City game, maybe longer, but I think it makes sense (to leave him out).
“He agreed completely. It was not as if he said ‘No, I don’t need training, I want to play’. It was a good conversation.
“I said yesterday in the dressing room ‘Boys, welcome two new players: Alex (deadline-day signing Oxlade-Chamberlain) and Phil’.”
City have suffered a blow ahead of the Liverpool clash with the loss of influential captain Vincent Kompany with yet another calf injury. City failed in attempts to bring in West Brom’s Jonny Evans as additional defensive cover last week but Guardiola is happy enough with his options.
Guardiola said of Kompany: “He had a little problem in his calf. It will be short but the next (game) he will not be able to play.
“With Vincent or without Vincent, we thought maybe we need another but we have (Eliaquim) Mangala, we have Tosin (Adarabioyo) and other players that can play in that position.”
n Pep Guardiola insists Sergio Aguero will be a big part of his plans at Manchester City this season.
Guardiola left Aguero out of his starting line-up at Bournemouth a fortnight ago, sparking yet another bout of speculation over the prolific Argentinian’s future.
The former Barcelona manager said: “I’ve said many times, he’s going to play a lot of games but sometimes he’s not going to play. I know it’s something special for a player who’s never been rotated and has always played with the previous managers, but in my case he’s going to play like last season – a lot of games.
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