I Will Not Buy A Defender In January – Pep Guardiola

Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola has said he is not thinking about buying a new defender in January to replace currently injured Aymeric Laporte.

Laporte had surgery on his right knee during the international break with Pep saying he might be out for 6 months.

After Kompany’s exit at the end of last season, City now have only Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones as their senior CBs with midfielder Fernandinho supporting them in defence.

However, Pep has still said he does not plan to bring in a replacement.

His words, “My advice to you is not to write too many names about the winter transfer window, because you are going to make a mistake,” he told reporters ahead of City’s trip to Norwich on Saturday.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen. I heard already we are interested in this player or the other player.

“I would like to say to all the clubs in the world don’t be nervous, because we are not interested in any players or central defenders in Europe. We are going to survive with the players we have.

“Maybe in December we are going to start to think about it, maybe. But we could not invest in this situation in the summer, we cannot do it in the winter.”

On Stones, “He’s going to play incredible this period, while Laporte is not with us,”

“I don’t have any doubts about his quality. The same case as Nico [Otamendi].

“And I’m pretty sure the young players will [play well] too, what I know from pre-season with Taylor Harwood-Bellis and especially Eric Garcia. Fernandinho with his quality can play there. So we’re going to move on.”