Pep Guardiola listed six members of his current Manchester City squad that can play up front as the club look set to fail to land a Sergio Aguero successor in the transfer market.
Pep Guardiola said: “We cannot forget how good we have done in the recent past with the same squad that we have. Like all the clubs, we are always trying to improve, to get the team and squad better because we are not the same people, because players in one moment are at one level and after time they reduce their level; after they can rise again sometimes but sometimes not. We have four or five players in the academy that we can absolutely count on. Liam [Delap] is one of them. Unfortunately he could not be with us in pre-season because he is injured and it is a little bit complicated. He is an option but we have many players who can play in that position. Raheem [Sterling] can play striker, Ferran [Torres] can play there, Gabriel can play there, even Riyad [Mahrez] and Jack Grealish can play there. We have not a typical striker like Liam but we can find alternatives. I always believe like in these last years we scored a lot of goals playing with or without a striker. We have to play better, try to achieve the level of intensity of desire and hunger that we had against Norwich and be consistent in every single game doing this. This is the target and play better in the process and the high pressing. When we defend deep, be more solid. Improve our set-pieces. That is what we want to do and that is what we are going to try.”
Pep Guardiola expects no further incomings or outgoings in the four remaining days of the transfer window, leaving the only difference from last season’s squad being the arrival of £100m forward Jack Grealish and the departures of Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia to Barcelona. Given Gabriel Jesus has told the manager he prefers to play on the wing, City are effectively two centre-forwards down on last season. It is worth noting that this group of players came mightily close recently to winning an unprecedented Quadruple so can still expect to challenge on all fronts this season. However, while Guardiola set out everyone in the squad that can be used up front he also acknowledged the need to bring new faces in.
