Pep Guardiola opens up on Man City's failed Declan Rice transfer after Arsenal snub
Pep Guardiola has opened up about missing out on Declan Rice after the Arsenal star chose not to join Manchester City. Guardiola said he really wanted Rice, who became the most expensive British player when Arsenal bought him from West Ham for £105million.
Guardiola shared that Rice, who was England's captain on his 50th game against Belgium, was a player he had hoped would come to City, reports the Mirror. «Sometimes here we have many players we wanted and they didn't decide to join us,» Guardiola explained.
«He's not the first one who we wanted who didn't join us. We have a long list.»
Guardiola admitted that sometimes players don't want to move, or the price isn't right, so deals don't happen. He wished Rice well and said any Premier League team would have been happy to sign him.
The City boss added: «He's an international captain for the national team of England and a young player playing a lot of games regularly. That's why Arsenal pushed the way they pushed.»
City will be without two key England players, Kyle Walker and John Stones, for their big game against Arsenal this weekend. Both got hurt while playing for England and can't play in the match at the Etihad Stadium.
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Walker had to leave the pitch with a hamstring injury during a 1-0 friendly loss against Brazil on Saturday. Then, Stones had to limp off just 10 minutes into Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Belgium due to a thigh problem.
Guardiola is understandably upset about losing two of his key and experienced defenders. City fans are also annoyed that Stones started both friendlies, even though
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