Guardiola: We couldn’t afford striker this summer

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has lamented the lack of transfer funds at his disposal – after not signing a striker.

Despite City spending significant sums on the likes of Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake to strengthen a defence that is already incredibly expensive, Guardiola wanted more backing from City’s board.

He is now without Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus for a midweek Champions League game against Marseille.

“Maybe yeah we considered it [buying a striker], we thought about it, another may be type of striker but we could not so I think the club do what they can,” said Guardiola to reporters.

“It’s not a club that wants revenues at the end of the year, it’s what they want and what’s best for the team.

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“If you decide to buy a striker, it has to be a striker in the league of Gabriel and Sergio but we cannot afford it. That is the reality.

“I’m not saying the club didn’t want to do it, not just in terms of strikers but in every position, but they wanted to make as strong a team as possible to make more games and better. But we thought ‘OK, Sergio is back and we didn’t expect Gabriel to be injured.’ Sometimes it happens.”