Manchester City transfer news

PEP GUARDIOLA turned the freezing London air blue – after being put on the spot by Thierry Henry.Guardiola was named The Best Fifa Men’s Coach for the first time in his illustrious career after leading City to a stunning Treble triumph last season.
Guardiola dropped an F-bomb after a tough question from Thierry HenryCredit: AFP
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola won Fifa’s The Best Men’s Coach awardCredit: Getty
Six of his City players – Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland were then named in the FifPro World Team of 2023.
It was the first time a single club had supplied as many team members since Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010.
And as the Spanish tactician stood on the stage to accept his award he had a short Q&A with Thierry Henry.
And that is when the 52-year-old accidentally dropped an F-bomb in front of everyone.
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Arsenal legend Henry, who played for Guardiola at Barcelona for two years, asked him to compare the incredible team he put together at the Nou Camp between 2008 and 2012 with the Citizens.
The ex-Bayern Munich boss was caught so off guard with that difficult question that he suffered a funny slip of the tongue.
Henry asked: “The last time that so many players were in the World XI was with you, when you were the coach of Barcelona.
“You had six players in that team in 2010. So which is the best team, out of the two?”
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Guardiola asked back: “Who would win?”
And Henry responded, “No, the best! You can be the best even if you lost a game.”
And a surprised Guardiola then accidentally hummed: “F***!”
But the Catalan head coach, who dropped his head into his hands, managed to gather his thoughts.
Guardiola continued: “My team at Barcelona was unbelievable. We were so young.
“But this team is in the Premier League, so tough and competitive. 
“And for me, to wake up and be with them every day, is the best award you could have as a manager.
“Barcelona was the club of my heart. I was born there and everything I am is from Barcelona. I grew up there and they gave me my values.
“But City, what we have done is a dream come true. We couldn’t have expected to be here, winning a Treble. It is special for all of us.”
Guardiola, who name-checked City President Klahdoon Al-Mubarak and executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Beguiristain, added: “Ferran and Txiki believed in me at the start of my managerial career when nobody could have done that. 
“I will never forget what they have done for me.
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“And I want to say thank you so much to my players for what they have done at this club for many years.
“Without exception, to all of them, thank you so much.” More

MANCHESTER CITY’S senior stars held emergency crisis talks during a poor run of form that saw Pep Guardiola’s men plunging to fourth place.That is according to City star Nathan Ake, who revealed captains Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Bernardo Silva called for a summit meeting to steady the ship.
Manchester City ace Nathan Ake revealed there were crisis talks after a poor runCredit: Getty
Man City captains wanted to ensure no one played the “victim card” or made “excuses”Credit: Getty
This came after three consecutive Premier League draws against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham as well as a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Ake told The Telegraph: “We had a big get together organised by the captains and we had a good talk with each other.
“Not to hammer each other but to be honest that everyone has to look at themselves to see what we can do better because this is not what we want.
“We want to win games and get the season going again and we had to do it now while there were still so many games to go.
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“The time was still there to do it because we would rather have had the conversation then than in five weeks when we could have been even more points behind.”
Ake added that the meeting took place in good faith with the floor open for all players to express any concerns they had.
The versatile defender added that the point of the meeting was to ensure no one played the “victim card” or made “excuses”.
Ake added: “We talked a couple of times with the players together to get to grips with it. We know we weren’t playing too badly.
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“But we weren’t getting the points and all of us expect from each other that we get points, we defend better and look at yourself for why we are conceding so many goals.
“They weren’t necessarily great goals [from the opponents] – many were deflections or those kind of things – but it still happened so [we asked] why did it happen this year and not last year?
“We talked with each other about it to try to understand and make sure everyone was on the same page – that we don’t just play the victim card of deflections or a difficult moment.
“We have to do better as individual players and defenders but everyone was allowed to say whatever they wanted and we picked it up. We set the standards really high for ourselves.
“Obviously the manager is on top of it but we want to achieve good things as well and always make sure that, no matter what, we want to keep the standards high and not let excuses or injuries creep in for performances.
“So it’s a good thing that we still have this character to keep going.”
And it seems that meeting had the same effect as similar crisis talks back in 2021 initiated by then captain Fernandinho, which led to a 21-match winning streak and third Premier League title under Guardiola.
City are now third in the Premier League table and a victory at Newcastle on Saturday would see them climbing to second place with only two points adrift of leaders Liverpool. More