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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about his options at centre-back after injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City may have to get 'creative' with their defence for the next two months as he ruled out two January moves and cast doubt on the long-term future of John Stones. The City centre-back has not played for the team for over a month and, with just six months remaining on his contract, Guardiola said he had no idea when the England man will be ready to feature again.
That has added to a crisis at the back for the Blues, who lost Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias to long-term injuries in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Gvardiol may not play again this season after breaking his leg, while Dias has been ruled out for four to six weeks with a hamstring problem.
It leaves Guardiola with just Nathan Ake and Abdukodir Khusanov as his two centre-backs, who have just two league starts between them since the beginning of October. Even more troubling, the manager has admitted that Ake will struggle to play regularly because of the physical demands of the game on his body.
Max Alleyne, 20, has been drafted back from Watford on loan and could go straight into the squad for Brighton and start in the FA Cup against Exeter on Saturday. Bringing back Manu Akanji or Vitor Reis from loans to Inter and Girona respectively were ruled out by Guardiola though as he floated Nico Gonzalez as a potential option regardless of what the club do in the transfer window this month.
"We will be creative. We’ll see [about] a transfer, we will be creative. We’ll find some solutions," said Guardiola. "We have the academy. We have Max, we have Stephen (Mfuni). We have Nico Gonzalez who can adapt in that position.
"We have some alternatives for this two months with a lot of games, a lot of important games in the Champions League and the Premier League obviously. During the season this happens and we have to deal with that."
Guardiola had said in the first part of his press conference that he had 'no idea' when Stones would be available again. Asked what that meant for the defender and his contract being up at the end of the season, the manager spoke about the injury difficulties that the player has faced.
"What happened in the last two seasons will define the decision at the end of the season," he sad. "Right now, I don’t know when he will be back. I would like to know the answer but I don’t know. He didn’t train with us.
"He didn’t make training sessions so it’s not like ‘I’m ready, now I’ll play’. There are a few players who can play after one or two training sessions and the other ones need a little bit longer. John is one of those cases."
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