24
Pep Guardiola has dealt a bitter blow at Manchester United following their Carabao Cup win over Newcastle.
The Manchester City boss has been somewhat out of sorts this season and has already delivered a couple of bizarre rants.
And his sarcasm was palpable when asked at a press conference if he thought United were back.
“If they spend a little more money, yes,” he said. “It’s because they didn’t spend, right?”
The Red Devils had something of a splurge in the summer, spending over £200m to rebuild the team after a dismal run last season.
And while most would agree that United need to bring in a few more players to reach their previous heights, Guardiola’s jibe comes with more than a bit of irony, given his track record of replacing £50m players with other £50m players. Millions at the drop of the hat.
While Man United have spent, when they get it wrong (as they often have), they can’t afford to simply replace them six months from now – they’re stuck with them.
Also, no one really knows how much Manchester City have spent on the transfer market, or how much they have been paying their squad. The Premier League investigation is certainly trying to find out, but for some reason, those around Etihad don’t really want to tell anyone…
Guardiola also had some thoughts on United’s Carabao Cup victory, saying: “They are in the position they normally should be in.
“When I landed here, I thought United would always be there, because of the history, because of everything, and Erik is doing an incredible job.
“And the players, you see how committed they are, how they all try to do it together.”
But that praise quickly gave way to another astute dig, as he added: “When you’ve gone five or six years without winning a title…
“When we traveled to win our first Carabao Cup, everyone was very excited to do it. The time we traveled there to win the cup for the fourth time in a row, it was, ‘Well, okay, another, another day at the office.
City winning the Carabao Cup has been a regular feature of the last decade, and Guardiola seems a bit upset to have lost it this year.
