Pep Guardiola hits out at Sky Sports in awkward moment – ‘I have to be careful’
Pep Guardiola did not take kindly to being asked about Manchester City’s plans for the January transfer window ahead of their trip to Sunderland in the Premier League
Pep Guardiola accused Sky Sports of twisting his words in a tetchy moment during a Manchester City press conference on Wednesday. Guardiola was speaking to reporters ahead of City’s Premier League game against Sunderland on New Year’s Day, but the briefing took an awkward twist.
The City boss always refuses to be drawn on potential transfers and was in no mood to discuss their move for Antoine Semenyo. City have already held positive talks with Bournemouth and are willing to pay his £65million release clause once the January window opens.
But Guardiola was not going to break the habit of a lifetime by letting the media know the ins and outs.
“You are from Sky, right? OK, good,” Guardiola responded when asked about transfers. “I have to be careful what I say. After that, it is completely the opposite (of) what you write and put on the screen.”
Guardiola was later asked about whether Oscar Bobb could leave City, with reports suggesting a £30m move to Borussia Dortmund could be on the cards.
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“I don’t have any news about anything right now,” he said. “The winter transfer window is completely closed right now. So, Sunderland…”
City travel to face the Black Cats on New Year’s Day with a five-point gap between themselves and Arsenal after Mikel Arteta’s side beat third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday night.
There was some good news for the chasers, though, with Jeremy Doku and Rodri back in the fold following injuries, which is particularly important given Bobb, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic are out injured while Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush are at the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Rodri has come back,” Guardiola said. “Maybe he can play a few minutes. I’m looking forward to it. Doku maybe, John and Oscar no. In terms of squad we are not in our best right now for this tight schedule. It’s right lately we have played with the same guys but with the schedule we have…
“We will arrive back (from Sunderland) at 2am or 3am and two days later we have Chelsea and then after that we have Brighton – really tough opponents. We don’t have many players to rotate.”
City won 3-0 when the sides at the Etihad Stadium on December 6 but Guardiola expects a difficult encounter at the Stadium of Light.
He said: “They are so tough. The crowd is unbelievable. They have beaten Newcastle. Arsenal and Aston Villa could not win there. They have had really good results. It will be completely different there but at the same time we are ready.”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
