PEP GUARDIOLA says his hopes of a perfect pre-season have been scuppered by the absence of three stars due to Covid regulations.
John Stones, Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan were not able to join Manchester City’s pre-season tour due to US entry requirements.
Instead the trio have joined the Under-23 squad in Croatia before reuniting with the first team early next week.
Guardiola was hoping he would have his full squad all together for pre-season for only the second time in his six-year reign.
But losing three of his big names in such circumstances have put paid to that.
He said: “Yes it’s disappointing, I would like them to be here.
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“In our second season – when we ended up with 100 points – that was the only season when we were all together.
“Since then it’s always been maybe four players arriving and then a week later another one.
“And because of that we started the seasons with incredible problems. Every year we drop points.
“This season I thought maybe we will be all together but due to the personal situation of these players, we will not.
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“But it’s what it is, we are going to move forward and we have to adapt.”
Guardiola is hoping the fact the trio are at least playing matches means it will not cause too many problems for the big kick-off.
He said: “They are fit, they are training with the Under-23s and they’ll come back and join us – and they’ll be fine.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk