Pep Guardiola had no interest in discussing a potential transfer for Robert Lewandowski as Manchester City are still waiting to sign a striker.
Guardiola was speaking at City’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Norwich City, where he revealed Kevin De Bruyne has a doubt with an ankle problem.
Even without De Bruyne, City should have had enough in the creative fields against Norwich, having signed Jack Grealish for a UK record £ 100million.
But Guardiola’s men remain light up front, with Sergio Aguero leaving for Barcelona and a move for Harry Kane has so far failed.
Reports this week of Lewandowski’s dissatisfaction with Bayern Munich, Guardiola’s former club, prompted questions about possible interest.
Lewandowski was only at Bayern for two of Guardiola’s three seasons, but still trailed only Thomas Muller (79 and 115) in goals (67) and goal commitments (79) during the Catalan coach’s tenure.
It could be an effective liaison, but Guardiola doesn’t expect Lewandowski to make it to the Premier League anytime soon.
“Next question,” he replied, as the press conference opened on Lewandowski. “Look, Lewy is such an important player for Bayern Munich. He will stay at Bayern Munich.
“I’m not going to talk to you and your colleagues today, with 11 days left, about the transfer market. I don’t know what’s going to happen, nobody knows.
“Tomorrow we have a game, prepare the Arsenal game when we are done. When we come back after the international break, we will have the whole team to fight for every game of the season.”
Even if neither Kane nor an alternative like Lewandowski were signed, Guardiola would be “more than satisfied” with his City side.
“It’s the same team, except Sergio for Jack Grealish, that we had last season,” he explained.
Asked about the team’s news for the Norwich game, Guardiola first said there was “no news, good news” before a specific question on De Bruyne.
“Kevin couldn’t train today so there is some news,” he said. “He couldn’t train today, a little disturbance, so we’ll see tomorrow if he can play or not.”
City lost their first game of the season 1-0 at Tottenham and only rivals Manchester United (in 1992-93, 1995-96 and 2012-13) have ever won the Premier League title after being beaten in their first match.
The defending champions have lost their last three games in all competitions 1-0, being part of a five-game losing streak in seven, as many as in their previous 56 matches.
If this miserable run continued against Norwich it would be unprecedented for a Guardiola side as he has never seen a team lose four in a row or go four without scoring.
City have lost four times in a row in August 2006 and haven’t lost four without a reply since March 1986.
Guardiola is certainly not worried yet, adding: “We have 111 points to play, 37 games.
“I can’t deny that I would have preferred to have three points, but tomorrow we have the challenge of winning the top three.
“We have to win games, of course, if we want to be there near the top of the league, but this is the second game.
“A lot of games and a lot will happen this season. What I would like to see is for the team to improve.”
