Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has a defense wall to build, and he intends to do so in time for the January transfer window. It's a good thing that his plan has the backing of the City board, which has authorized Guardiola to make the necessary hiring in the coming year.
It was clear that what the Spanish boss needs are robust defenders to hopefully boost the chances of the Blues to repeat as Premier League champions. As things stand now, it seemed hard for City to replicate the accomplishments of the past year.
After eight games played so far, the defending champions are playing catch up on Liverpool, and the club is exactly eight points behind. City will want to deal with the problem immediately with money backing Guardiola's recruitment plans, Metro reported.
For the most part, the holes on the Blues' defense was caused by the extended absence of Ayemeric Laporte, whose injury will keep him from helping the City's campaign until next year.
As a replacement for the Frenchman, Guardiola has been considering a handful of candidates, and names like Caglar Soyuncu, Ruben Dias, and Harry Maguire have emerged, but a deal on anyone will unlikely get sealed. That's because the City board found the asking price unjustified.
Fox Sports said City is also exploring available talents in La Liga, possibly coming from the competition's giant clubs.
"Guardiola has identified two defenders, one each from Barcelona and Real Madrid to fix his leaky defense," per the report.
The targets have been identified as Samuel Umtiti, coming from Barca, and Nacho Fernandez from Real. It is understood that Guardiola will make a move on the two players at the start of 2020.
Although unconfirmed, the same report indicated that Umtiti and Fernandez moving from Spain to England is nearly a done deal for City, and the players are ready to assume specific assignments for the Blues.
For the French national, the task waiting is to take the place that Laporte has temporarily vacated. Fernandez, on the other hand, will be assigned to the left-back slot.
Metro said City's personnel issues would likely be compounded by another concern - the squad has already reached its 17-man limit on foreign players as prescribed by Premier League rules. So for Guardiola to enjoy a free hand on hiring in the upcoming transfer windows, he must first let go of a non-English player.
Interestingly, Manchester Evening News floated a suggestion that Guardiola may just want to consider in case his defense problems will not get resolved soon. The trick is just to outscore the competition, the report said.
