Pep Guardiola neither confirmed nor denied that Manchester City is close to signing winger Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth, as has already been reported in England. When asked about this business, the technician reserved himself.
“I have to be careful with what I say. That’s why yesterday I already said that the transfer window, at this moment, is completely closed”, he pointed out this Wednesday at a press conference.
Rodri played just 16 games over the last two seasons. In 2024, the same year he won the Ballon d’Or, he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him sidelined for almost eight months. More recently, he was struggling with a muscle problem in his thigh, but he is back, Guardiola confirmed.
«Rodri has returned, maybe he can play a few minutes», said the Catalan, speaking of the meeting with Sunderland on the first day of 2026. A game that still led to some complaints from Guardiola due to the schedule that Manchester City faces.
«In terms of the squad, we are not at our best moment for this tight schedule. It’s true that lately we’ve been playing with the same players, but with the schedule we have… We’ll arrive from Sunderland at two or three in the morning and, two days later, we have Chelsea and then Brighton, very difficult opponents. We don’t have many players to rotate”, he lamented.
Guardiola also refuted the idea that Arsenal and Manchester City are, at this stage, the only teams that can fight for the title of Premier League champion.
“Are you sure? A few weeks ago it was just Arsenal, two days ago there were three teams [incluindo o Aston Villa] in the title race. And now there are two… We’ll see». City, which is five points behind the leader, but has a game less than the gunners.
