Pep Guardiola has shed some light on to the transfers of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Manchester City have undergone something of a fire sale this summer.
The Sky Blues sold Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal before then signing off on Raheem Sterling to Manchester City. And on Friday, it was confirmed that Oleksandr Zinchenko has joined Jesus at the Emirates.
Manchester City have brought in Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips this summer, but even with said trio – the latter of which is a Fernandinho replacement – a case could be made that City are currently heading into 2022/23 a weaker side.
Now, as mentioned above, Guardiola has explained why City sold the aforementioned trio, pointing toward the players wanting to go elsewhere for more minutes:
“No [the outgoings weren’t guaranteed] because I was incredibly happy with Gabriel, Oleks and Raheem,” Guardiola said. “If they stayed longer there would be no problem. They proved last year how good they are.
“But sometimes the players want more, and the club feel it is the right moment to do it. But the most important thing is they leave happy with the club and what they have done.
“Normally when you talk about transfers in Spain, Germany, England it is 10 per cent more. It happens and we know it. It happens because they are really good. They are the best ages and their best years are maybe coming now. That’s why they have a value in the market.
“Chelsea and Arsenal have paid the money that is fair. And the discussions were perfect, Txiki [Begiristain] told me. Good for both sides and really friendly.”
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