Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that the club risked making a mistake by letting Julian Alvarez join Atletico Madrid without replacing the Argentina striker.
Alvarez moved to Atletico in an £81 million ($106 million) deal earlier in August after Guardiola accepted his wish to leave in search of more regular playing time. His departure means Erling Haaland is the only established City first-choice striker.
Despite being linked with FC Copenhagen’s Orri Oskarsson and Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi, neither deal had come to fruition in the final hours before the transfer window shuts on Friday evening.
Speaking ahead of City’s clash with West Ham, Guardiola shared his thought on his current squad.
“I’m happy with the squad. We didn’t expect Julian to leave, although he had conversations a long time ago with other clubs and his agent, so it could happen and in the end it happened,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“We saw what we have, if we have many injuries it will be a problem, but in a few months Oscar Bobb will be back (from injury) and Phil (Foden) is in that position, McAtee can play in that position, Gundogan can play in that position.
“They are different players to Erling of course. Maybe it is a mistake, I don’t know but I don’t like leaving players without playing for a long time.”
In keeping with Guardiola’s preference for a small squad, German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan’s return to the club from Barcelona and the signing of Brazilian forward Savinho from Troyes have been City’s only close-season deals.
