Pep Guardiola denies Manchester City transfer interest in Italy international defender | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explicitly denied the notion that the Premier League champions showed an interest in Italy international Alessandro Bastoni.

The UEFA Champions League finalists of 2023 were reunited on matchday one of the brand new league phase in this season’s competition, playing out a tight and tense affair at the Etihad Stadium.

With both sides having clear chances to break the deadlock, astute defensive work and fine goalkeeping from Ederson and Yann Sommer ensured that the score would remain tied at 0-0 and the English and Italian champions would share the points between them.

One player to have earned themselves a mention from manager Pep Guardiola after the game was Inter central defender Alessandro Bastoni, whom the City boss credited as being integral in Simone Inzaghi’s build-up play.

“Inter are unbelievable in build-up, with (Alessandro) Bastoni, (Yann) Sommer. Sommer’s a quality player with the feet like our keepers,” said Guardiola. “He has unbelievable quality. It’s difficult to press that, and we were SO good!”

Speaking during a recent press conference, and amid strong praise from the City manager on the overall system deployed by Inzaghi at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola has rejected the idea that the club made an approach to sign one Inter star.

Quizzed by Italian media on whether either he or Manchester City had ‘tried their best’ to bring Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni to the Etihad Stadium in previous transfer windows, Guardiola showed no hesitation in shutting down the idea.

“That’s not true,” the 54-year-old responded, as per Fabrizio Romano.

The 25-year-old’s agent has previously claimed that Manchester City had shown an interest in his client, but it remains unknown as to whether such comments were a contract ploy or an attempt to drive up the player’s valuation in the European market.

Speaking in July, Tullio Tinti claimed, “Manchester City asked for Bastoni years ago. Recently, Real Madrid did the same… Inter want to win and they’re not gonna sell their top players like Bastoni.”

In contrast, and speaking one year prior to his agent, Bastoni shut down the idea that he has ever been close to a move to the Premier League giants, as he said, “There was never anything concrete.”