Pep Guardiola is putting his focus on the players he currently has at his disposal, notably the rising sensation James McAtee, even if Manchester City is prepared to spend a lot of money before the January transfer window shuts.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has said that he is doing all in his power to prevent emerging sensation James McAtee from becoming the club’s next Cole Palmer.
McAtee, who is highly regarded, has been connected with a number of Premier League teams, including Fulham and Newcastle, and the winter transfer window will close on Monday, February 3. After reportedly turning down offers of up to thirty million pounds over the summer of 2017, City is now looking to offer the midfielder, who was born in Salford, a new long-term deal.
McAtee, who is 22 years old, is currently in the final 18 months of his current contract and is confronted with a predicament about his future. The fact that he has not been given enough playing time under Guardiola has given rise to speculation that he would depart City in the same way as Chelsea star Palmer did and go to fresh pastures elsewhere.
His reputation was bolstered even further on Sunday, when he scored his first goal for City in the Premier League during their brutal 6-0 thrashing of Ipswich. Guardiola makes it quite apparent that he is doing all in his power to keep McAtee with the club only a few minutes after the final whistle.
His football skills are incredible, and he is a wonderful person. “Quite comparable qualities to those of Phil [Foden],” the manager of the City team said. “When you don’t get many minutes for your confidence, it takes a lot of effort to get it right. The hope is that we will be able to keep James for many years.
It is possible that McAtee may have an even more difficult time finding playing time during the second half of the season on account of the fact that Guardiola’s team has won four of their past five games and scored a total of 22 goals. The management of Etihad is also anticipated to welcome a number of new players over the course of the next two weeks, one of them is Omar Marmousch, who was previously signed by Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Egyptian forward, who is 25 years old, will get a fixed payment of €75 million (£63 million) from City, in addition to an additional €5 million (£4 million) in incentives. In addition, it is said that they are getting closer to acquiring the services of Abdukodir Khusanov, a defender for Lens, Vitor Reis, a centre back for Palmeiras, and Andrea Cambiaso, a full-back for Juventus. This would bring their prospective winter expenditure to a cool £190 million.
Considering that AC Milan is interested in the right-back for City, it is anticipated that Kyle Walker will be the only key player to go before the transfer window closes. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the managing director of Milan, has revealed that negotiations are now taking place. He stated to DAZN that “everyone knows that Walker is a great player, and he did great things at City.”
“There is a great deal of interest whenever there is someone on the market who is comparable to him. Due to the fact that he is powerful, he is a leader, and he has control in the locker room, this does not go against our vision. Now we are determining whether or not it is feasible.
Guardiola did not comment on the future of the England international player when he was questioned about it. His reaction was, “If Ibrahimovic said that, Ibrahimovic said that.”