“He is very clear” – Journalist reveals Pep Guardiola’s firm block on Manchester City chief’s transfer plans | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has placed a firm block on Txiki Begiristain’s transfer plans in the past when it came to two clubs in particular, it has been revealed.

The two former Barcelona men work closely in their Manchester City operations and the majority of their work in recruitment for the first-team squad has proven hugely successful on the pitch through numerous successes across competitions.

Most of the work is conducted by Txiki Begiristain himself, and Pep Guardiola is often keen to publicly praise his Manchester City counterpart for the work he puts in to supply him with the very best talent to compete for football’s major honours.

Most recently, Guardiola credited Begiristain for the work put in during the 2022 summer transfer window, when Manuel Akanji was signed from Borussia Dortmund towards the end of the market for a £15 million fee.

“What a signing the club has done,” Guardiola exclaimed. “He can play full-back, central defender, now holding midfield. When he arrives in the final third, he has ability to make passes, he’s fast, he’s strong, what a player Txiki (Begiristain) has brought me here!”

However, it has now been revealed that Begiristain does not always have the freedom to approach whatever player he likes, with a level of instruction placed on him by Guardiola during transfer windows.

Speaking during a recent conversation with Spanish newspaper AS, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, journalist Martí Perarnau has spoken at length about his new book on Pep Guardiola’s tenure at Manchester City to date.

As part of the interview, Perarnau revealed a fascinating detail regarding Pep Guardiola’s approach towards Manchester City’s transfer activity, and how officials within the club have been instructed not to target players from his former clubs.

“It was (Lionel) Messi who offered himself (to Manchester City in 2020),” Martí Perarnau revealed. “The one who knocked on the door was Leo. Pep (Guardiola) had his reticence. He is very clear not to touch Barça and not to touch Bayern.”

He continued, “City had a list of Bayern players to sign, and Pep told Txiki (Begiristain, Sporting Director) not to touch anyone. And there was a lot of them, almost all of them except for the goalkeeper.”

The aforementioned details may prove telling in the coming months, in the build-up to the 2024 summer transfer window, with Manchester City having been linked with a number of star players from FC Bayern Munich in particular.

It was recently suggested that Serge Gnabry could emerge as a candidate for Manchester City’s attacking roles next summer, whilst there have also been tenuous claims that they could look towards the likes of Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich, and Leroy Sane if required.

At nearly 700 pages long, Martí Perarnau’s highly-anticipated book ‘God Save Pep’ will come out in England on March 19th 2024 in paperback format.