Pep Guardiola has told ESPN new signings and staff will inject fresh energy into Manchester City next season after a disappointing campaign, joking his request for the summer is simply to “give me good players.”
City’s run of four successive Premier League titles ended as they finished third, 13 points behind champions Liverpool, in a year which saw them fail to win a major trophy.
As a result, there will be a series of changes at the club in the off-season, headlined by Kevin De Bruyne‘s exit, as they look to rebuild and go again next year.
Asked on Wednesday which additions he feels the team needs during the transfer window, Guardiola told ESPN: “Always the same: Give me good players.
“The rest, it doesn’t matter. The good players can adapt and adjust. We will adapt the movement or tactics or whatever things we say as managers for the quality of the players.
“And especially [give me] players that go to Anfield, go to [Real] Madrid, the Bernabéu, Barcelona, Camp Nou or wherever and say: ‘OK, I’m going to play my best.’ That is the difference, the top players have that.
“But we are not adjusting for the fact that we [had a tough season]. If we win, I don’t have to adjust anything? That is a mistake. When you win, you also have to adjust things.
“Day by day, game by game, week by week [you adjust]. Of course we are going to adjust some things, but not for the fact that we just won the Community Shield.”
ESPN has reported that City have agreed a deal worth €55 million ($62m) with AC Milan for midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, while Wolves full-back Rayan Aït-Nouri is another target.
There will also be extensive changes to Guardiola’s coaching staff this summer, with his assistants Juanma Lilo and Íñigo Domínguez both set to depart along with set-piece coach Carlos Vicens, who has agreed to become head coach of Portuguese side Braga.
Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnders, who was last in charge of Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, is among those who will join the backroom team, sources have told ESPN.
While Guardiola said he is sad to lose colleagues he has worked closely with, he says the additions to the playing and coaching staff will give him and the team renewed energy to compete next season.
“I’m going to lose people that I adore and they mean something, of course, but it happened in the past with many people,” he added.
“In 15 years, a lot left, everyone cheated on me! But the new ones, younger people and new players, they always bring this energy and this energy revitalises a lot.
“I need energy for myself and the people give me energy. You see the eyes, new faces, ‘I want to do it,’ ‘I want to be there,’ new little details in the training sessions. It’s new energy.
“Because energy for itself, the energy is one Premier League more, one Champions League more or one Community Shield more? It’s not. It’s not going to change my life one Premier League more or less in my period in Man City, it’s not going to change anything.
“But the [new] people, they give you that [energy] day by day the people. That is the reason why changing players and staff is really good.”
Any players City sign between now and June 10 will be able to be registered to take part in the Club World Cup, which kicks off in the United States later this month.
Guardiola and the City players not involved in international games are due back in training on June 9. They are set to fly to their training base in Florida on June 12 before their opening game against Wydad AC in Philadelphia on June 18.
