Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has fired a warning to the club’s hierarchy on his plan for the squad and how it could impact his future, MySportDab reports.
Speaking after City’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth, the Premier League’s penultimate tie, the Spaniard revealed his non-negotiable condition directed at the club’s owners if he must stay at Manchester City.
For context, Man City, Chelsea, Man United, and other elite clubs in the Premier League and Europe have struggled with overbloated squads due to the modern dynamics of the game.
The drive to stay atop the competition by recruiting the best available talents, when not properly done with the input of the manager, definitely leads to discrepancies.
A tangible effect of this is the perpetual struggle for game time between these players and stiff competition for places.
This always poses a challenge for the manager as well, who will have to strike a balance between adequate game time for the players to save their respective careers and picking the best eleven for a match.
Guardiola didn’t mince words recently as he addressed this problem. Speaking after Man City’s Premier League win over Bournemouth, the Spaniard stated categorically that he is not ready to put up with an overbloated squad going into next season.
He added that instead of being bombarded with countless numbers of players who will not have enough time to play, he would rather choose to leave.
“I told the club I don’t want a big squad. I don’t want to put five, six players in the tribune, I don’t want that. I will quit”.
“If they don’t make a short squad, I will not stay”.
“It’s impossible for my soul to put players in the tribune and cannot play,” he said as quoted by Fabrizio Romano.
Manchester City has been one of the top clubs in Europe, with stiff competition for places among players. The likes of Jack Grealish, John Stones, and others have seen their positions usurped by fast-rising talents.
Even departing midfield legend Kevin De Bruyne had, once in a while, struggled for game time as the competition for places intensified.
For Guardiola, it is better to keep a trimmed and small, manageable squad than pile pressure on both managers and players with overbloated squads.
