PEP GUARDIOLA admits he is unlikely to buy a replacement for Leroy Sane when the winger leaves Manchester City.
And that could create another opening for England youngster Phil Foden to get regular first-team football at the Etihad over the next couple of seasons.
Man City may not replace Leroy Sane in a major boost for Phil Foden
German international Sane, 24, is out of contract next year and has told City he will not sign a new one as he has his heart set on a return home with Bayern Munich.
A deal is expected to be thrashed out between the clubs this summer — although they remain a long way apart in their valuations of the former Schalke man.
Whether he leaves this summer or next, Guardiola said he will probably not get the chequebook out to buy a big-money replacement.
Foden, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva have all played in that spot wide on the left during Sane’s long spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.
And his words will be of particular interest to England Under-21 starlet Foden, 20, after Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate recently said he needs to be playing regularly.
Ahead of tonight’s clash with Burnley, City chief Guardiola said: “First, Leroy is our player. I don’t know if he is going to leave this summer or the end of his contract.
“But we have enough good players up front. Gabriel can play on the left, Phil Foden can play on the left, we have Raheem there.
“We have big, talented players up front. Most of them are in good, healthy conditions, like Phil, Riyad, Gabriel, Raheem.
“They can play quite regularly for a long period of time, they are so stable in terms of injury situations.”
City have already got used to life without Sane. He has missed all of this season due to a cruciate knee ligament injury he suffered in August’s Community Shield.
And it is often forgotten he was regularly left on the bench in the final few weeks of the 2018-19 campaign — as City were charging to the domestic Treble.
There is uncertainty over how much City will have to spend in the transfer market this summer, due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a possible Uefa ban hanging over them.
They are currently waiting to hear if the Court of Arbitration for Sport are going to reduce or overturn their two-year European ban for breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
Guardiola said: “With transfers, we have other priorities maybe. And I don’t know, after the coronavirus, if the situation economically and financially for clubs is changing.
“We’re going to see at the end of this season. I don’t know that right now.
“The places I was, Barcelona, Bayern and here, when the club say we cannot afford it, we cannot afford it.
“But it depends on the people who stay. Maybe in the next two months the team make a step forward and we stay with the same people. I don’t know right now.”
Guardiola will want to make changes in the summer but despite the huge gap to runaway leaders Liverpool at the top, he does not believe things are too bad.
Sane is likely to go while skipper David Silva has confirmed he will not be here next season.
Pep added: “In the last nine titles we’ve fought for, we’ve won eight so it’s not bad and I think next season we are going to do it again.
“Imagine being 14 points clear now from this United — it means there has not been much wrong in terms of points and performance.”
Leroy Sane to leave Man City confirms Pep Guardiola
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
