Free-scoring Manchester City have not suffered following their failure to sign Harry Kane last summer because other players have stepped up to the plate and weighed in with goals.
That is the verdict of Pep Guardiola ahead of the visit of Tottenham on Saturday, a game in which two City goals would bring their total in all competitions up to the century mark. Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva are each into double figures in all competitions already.
Guardiola said: “I never expected how many goals. We have not got a guy who is going to score 25 or 30 goals but we need three or four to get 10 or 12 and we will be close to winning the title.
“Raheem, Phil, Kevin – more than ever – Bernardo, Ilkay Gundogan, even though he has not had so many minutes, we need the players up front with ability to score goals. Hopefully it’s possible and it will not be a problem. I’m not concerned, I want them to have the ambition to get more.”
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The Spaniard revealed that the club made four unsuccessful approaches to sign Spurs hitman Harry Kane. But he insisted there was no rift with City’s hierarchy when they failed in the repeated attempts to land Kane, despite the England captain expressing his desire to leave north London.
“I was never disappointed with what the club cannot do in the transfer market,” explained Guardiola. “I’ve never created a fire here because I represent the club and the club is always bigger than myself by far.
“We tried [for Kane] but it was far away from being done because Tottenham were clear this was not going to happen. And when it happens two, three or four times, it’s over.
“Now you can say ‘Harry Kane didn’t come and everything is going well’ but at the time – when we lost to Leicester City in the Community Shield and then Tottenham in the first league game – I didn’t know it. We looked at the squad and we weren’t sure.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/LZe1cNP
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