(London) Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola on Wednesday denied press reports that the Brazilian Neymar had been offered to his club by Paris SG as part of a player swap deal.
Posted at 6:24 a.m.
“That’s not true. Sorry for them, but their information was wrong,” the Catalan said in a press conference as his team is on a pre-season tour in the United States.
The Spanish boss was referring to an article from Le Parisien claiming that Neymar, who would no longer be wanted in the French capital, could have been used as a bargaining chip to attract another Citizen.
The article specified that “the club trained by Pep Guardiola (had) quickly responded in the negative to this possibility. The Spaniard does not want to unbalance the construction of his group with the arrival of such a star.
“Neymar is an incredible player and for the information I have, he is an incredibly nice person. So leave him alone, let him express his incredible talent in Paris,” Guardiola added on the subject, complaining that “every summer, (we write that) Manchester City will sign 150 players”.
City had struck a blow even before the opening of the summer transfer window by recruiting the Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland, from Dortmund.
Goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno, from Arminia Bielefeld, midfielder Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United) and Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez, bought last winter but left at the disposal of River Plate, have also joined the clubs this summer.
The reigning English champion, however, released two attacking players, Brazilian Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal and Englishman Raheem Sterling to Chelsea.