Pep Guardiola wants an English core at Manchester City – if the price is right
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insists he wants to rebuild his ageing squad around a core of English players.
Guardiola favours an indigenous bedrock, as he did at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, although he has warned that he may be priced out of repeating that approach at City, who have been linked with Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere and Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
“I would like to have more English players, but they are so expensive,” said Guardiola, whose side can climb to second in the Premier League if they win at home to Stoke on Wednesday.
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“I would like to play with English players because they feel something special and sometimes that helps. But sometimes it is not possible.
“The market is the market. The club has worked for a long time with the academy, they are thinking about the next few years.
"Hopefully they will come through with me, maybe it will be a different manager. But I would like four or five [English] boys in the side.”
Guardiola shelled out £47.5m to Everton for England defender John Stones last summer but let his international team-mate Joe Hart leave on loan to Torino.
City have also been credited with interest in Tottenham full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose.