Pep Guardiola has insisted he is not disappointed with Manchester City’s failure to sign Tottenham’s Harry Kane last year.
The England striker has been linked with a move away from north London to the Etihad Stadium, but City have not been able to persuade Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to withdraw money for his star player.
It looks like the absence of a new midfielder could jeopardize City’s plans this season after losing to Leicester City in the Community Shield and Spurs in the Premier League in August, in a game in which Kane was sidelined due to uncertainty over his future.
However, City have since started a poor race, winning 20 and losing one of their league games to open up a nine-point gap at the top.
Kane, on the other hand, has scored just five goals in the league in 2021-22, his 358.4-minute double-bad rate than at any other time in his career. Spurs are in a three-game losing streak before taking on City on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium.
“I have never been disappointed in my 11- or 12-year career in that the club I work for will not be able to make it to the player trading market,” Guardiola said. “I have never created a fire here because I represent the club and the club is always above me.
“If we have some negotiations and we do not agree, we do it internally. We tried [on Kane] but it was far from [because] Tottenham were clear that this would not happen. And when they said this two, three., Four, is over.
“Now do not say: ‘Harry Kane did not come and everything is going well.’ But at the time I didn’t know. We lost to Spurs and Leicester in the Community Shield. And [I didn’t know] what was going to happen in the next few weeks.
“The team has given me players, and I’m always happy – and that ‘s what we can do together.
“I know that [the team] can do me the best. When we lose we are sad, but no one points out: ‘Your fault, your fault, your fault.’ We ‘re not doing that. That’s why I’m happy here. In some clubs if you lose it’ what’s the problem? ‘
In 2016-17, when Antonio Conte was in charge of Chelsea, he became the first manager to score twice in Guardiola in the same season.
In the first of those meetings in December 2016, Guardiola tried to match Conte’s plan after three and lost the game 3-1, a mistake he will not repeat.
“We played three games back, we lost 3-1,” he said. “What a decision I made.”
