Man City: Pep Guardiola says Premier League club will try to sign central defender

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones made 53 Premier League starts between them last season
  • Author, Simon Stone
  • Role, 大象传媒 Sport in Nashville

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says the club "will try" to sign a central defender this summer.

Eliaquim Mangala is expected to depart, which would leave City with Vincent Kompany, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi as established centre-backs.

"We don't have too much more to spend but we are going to see," said Guardiola, speaking before Saturday's friendly against Tottenham (23:00 BST).

City have spent about 拢200m this summer - 拢120m of that on three full-backs.

This month, England right-back Kyle Walker moved from Spurs for 拢45m, Brazil international Danilo joined from Real Madrid for 拢26.5m and France left-back Benjamin Mendy was recruited from Monaco for 拢52m.

They join Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva (拢43m) and Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes (拢35m) in arriving at City this summer.

City have also been linked with moves for Arsenal's Chile forward Alexis Sanchez and another Monaco player, 拢160m-rated 18-year-old France striker Kylian Mbappe.

However, Guardiola declined to answer questions on that duo, stating that "they are Arsenal and Monaco players".