Pep Guardiola wants to work with a smaller squad at Manchester City; Abdukodir Khusanov, Savinho, James McAtee, Claudio Echeverri and Rico Lewis all missed out on Tuesday’s match against Bournemouth; Guardiola said: “I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I will quit”
Pep Guardiola has claimed he would quit as Manchester City boss if he is given too big a squad next season because he cannot bear to leave a large number of fit players out.
City will go into the summer looking to rebuild an ageing team, with several senior players candidates to follow Kevin De Bruyne out of the door after the Belgian played his final City home game in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth.
However, Abdukodir Khusanov, Savinho, James McAtee, Claudio Echeverri and Rico Lewis all missed out on the 20-player matchday squad.
After a season when injuries have hit City hard, getting the right balance of numbers looks a difficult one, but Guardiola – who has always preferred using a smaller group – said keeping things tight remains a priority for him.
“I said to the club I don’t want that [a bigger squad],” Guardiola said. “I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay.
“It’s impossible for my soul to [tell] my players in the tribune that they cannot play.
“Now it happened to add players immediately. Maybe for three or four months we couldn’t select 11 players, we didn’t have defenders, it was so difficult. After, people come back but next season it cannot be like that.
“As a manager, I cannot train 24 players and every time I select I have to have four, five, six, stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club I don’t want that.”
Despite the injury problems suffered this season – most notably the long-term absence of Rodri, who made his first appearance since September as a second-half substitute on Tuesday night – Guardiola said he would rather make up the numbers with academy players.
His assertion means City will have to trim numbers before bringing in any new faces in the next transfer window.
“If I have injuries, unlucky, we have some players for the academy and we do it,” he said.
“[We] cannot sustain for the emotion of the club, the soul of the team, [to] create another connection with each other that this season we lost it a bit.”
City’s website lists 28 members of the first-team squad, plus four who are out on loan. Premier League sides can name a 25-man squad, but teams can also include U21 players, who are eligible over and above the squad limit.
Chelsea’s official website lists 31 players in their squad, with 21 others out on loan. Brighton and Tottenham list 29, while Wolves name 30 on their squad list.
Arsenal have just 24 players and champions Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton and Nottingham Forest all have squads of 25.
