Guardiola defends summer spending
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has defended his clubs £120m outlay on full backs and has insisted that big spending is necessary in the current transfer market.
Guardiola has spent more than £200m this summer, with defenders Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo costing the club £120m alone. However, the Spanish manager has defended his transfer policy and believes other clubs will top City's total before the transfer window closes.
"I could not imagine years ago, even two or three years ago, paying £100m or £120m for one player, now it has happened and will happen more," Guardiola said ahead of facing Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.
"It's a lot. I would like to pay less for the club, for everybody but the market is the market. Manchester City didn't invest in full backs in the last six-seven years. We decided we had to make the squad younger and we tried to keep the best full backs."
"All the clubs spend a lot of money, not just us. You will see until the 31st (of August), the amount of transfers coming, so we will see 70, 80, 90, 100 (million) - more than that. Maybe one day it will stop."
Guardiola has also called for UEFA to shut the transfer window before the new season starts.
‘Unfortunately the market finishes on August 31st. I think that’s a huge mistake from UEFA,’ Guardiola said.
‘I think the market should finish when we start the season, it’s too long, too large. We are playing here with guys who maybe will not continue, or with players who are coming but are not here.'
‘We are playing in a situation where we don’t know exactly what is going to happen for the rest of the season, so we miss time. For all the managers.'
‘Hopefully in the future UEFA can think about that and the deadline will be the day we start the competition.’