Pep expects smaller City squad after transfer window | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola expects the size of the squad to be a ‘little bit’ smaller after the transfer window has closed.

The City boss takes charge of his first Premier League match of the season on Saturday when we travel to Wolves for the 17:30 (UK) kick-off.

Mateo Kovacic, Josko Gvardiol and Savinho are set to miss the trip to Molineux through injury but our new signings are in contention to make their Premier League debut for City.

Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ai-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and James Trafford joined the squad over the summer, but Guardiola expects it to be trimmed ahead of the 1 September deadline.

Asked if the squad had more numbers than he would like, he said: “A little bit, but many clubs have the same.

“We should [trim the squad], but it's difficult because I love all of them; I like all of them and they like to be here. So the situation is not easy but they know it.

“We have a lot of players, tomorrow there will be two players on the tribune, and when players come back it will be four or five at home and of course it’s not an ideal situation.

“At the same time we have a lot of games, every season is more and more and you have to have another squad to compete in every single game.”

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The boss has not put a figure on how many players he expects to have once the window shuts, but believes that many Clubs will be making deals in the next few weeks.

“I don’t know [how many],” he said on squad depth. “At the end of the three weeks I don’t know the market in Saudi Arabia is a bit longer, it happened in many teams they have big squads and need to move them.

“All the managers like to work with the right number of people because they deserve to play all the players, and when they are at home it makes no sense.

“We have to find the balance and the desire of the club and especially the players and after we will decide.”

Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Maximo Perrone are among the players to leave permanently in the summer.

Meanwhile, Vitor Reis and Jack Grealish have gone on season-long loans to Girona and Everton respectively, and Guardiola says it’s important for players to get minutes on the pitch.

“The same as all the players the same, especially with Jack of course we wish him the best at a traditional club at Everton and hopefully he can play and play and play,” he added.

“That's the reason why we decided all together and alongside here that was best for him to take minutes and play, play and play.”