“We have a good squad!” – Manchester City do not need to rebuild this summer insists Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola is of the firm belief that his Manchester City squad is not in need of a rebuild this summer, despite the common viewpoint elsewhere in the game.

That outlook comes ahead of a summer transfer window that is expected to bring about plenty of change within the Etihad Stadium’s first-team squad, as recruitment bosses look to get the club back to its competitive best after a hugely difficult season.

Txiki Begiristain is currently working alongside Hugo Viana on recruitment plans for the summer market, in what is also viewed as a transitional handover period between the pair as the latter becomes Manchester City’s full-time sporting director in the coming weeks.

At present, the belief is that City are looking to strengthen in both full-back positions with more natural options for each, as well as more than one midfielder to revive an ageing roster in the centre of the park and make up for the loss of Kevin De Bruyne.

However, City will no doubt need to sell or allow players to leave the club on loan agreements over the course of the coming months, with manager Pep Guardiola struggling to accommodate all of his existing stars in his 20-man squad lists at the end of the last campaign.

Speaking to reporters after Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League qualifying victory against Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, Guardiola reflected on the squad he had at his disposal throughout the course of a hugely difficult season.

“Listen, I have the feeling the squad we had at the beginning of the season with Rodri, with Phil [Foden]. Injuries, always there are injuries, muscular, and today in the modern football, a lot, but this amount a lot of times, 14 or 15 players available, in the toughest period of the year in November, December, January, in this country, is terrible,” he admitted.

“When you don’t have that, the squad is exceptional! So I don’t have any doubts with Rodri there, and Phil there, and everybody there, the central defenders there, we would have competed; in the Champions League we would have been better,” he continued.

“I’m not saying winning [titles] because Liverpool deserved completely to win and in the Champions League, yeah, but we would have been better, that’s for sure. What’s happening next season, the club is going to decide. I give my suggestions but at the end the club decides what is to do.

“But that is not the most important thing; the important is how we create again our connection, our vibes, between the players, between all of us, to go into another game to prove that we are a good team and we can compete everywhere. And this season, especially these months, we were not able to do it. We are miles, miles away.”

When asked about the possibility of a rebuild or significant overhaul of Manchester City’s playing squad during the summer weeks, Guardiola added, “I don’t have that feeling, I’m sorry! Maybe the club is a little different, we will see, but I have 24 players and I see my players yesterday, the day before, in training, I said, ‘Oh my god! How good they are!’ So I don’t have that feeling!

“But of course, new faces will come, especially in positions where we are a little weaker. But I don’t think much, I don’t think a lot. I don’t think a lot because have a good squad, they have contracts, they want to stay here, and I don’t want [a big squad].

“So I remember the first season when we arrived and we didn’t win one title, not like this season when we won the Community Shield, it was nine, 10, 11 players at the end of their contract. And except Yaya Toure, the rest we didn’t extend. There you can make the changes.

“But today we have 23 players under contract, it’s not as simple [as 2017]. That’s why I don’t have the feeling that it will come a lot of [new] people. But we will see; the summer is long, the [FIFA Club] World Cup, the players maybe realise they’re not going to play, ‘I want to leave, I’m not happy’.

“I don’t know! I’m sorry, it’s not my business! My business was qualifying for the Champions League for next year, and the rest now belongs to the club.”

Manchester City are believed to be most intent on making AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders their first arrival of the summer transfer window, while Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White is another target for the midfield roles available.