Despite opening an eleven points gap at the top of the league table, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is not resting on his laurels as he looks to bolster his depleted defence.<\/p>\n
The Catalan has led Manchester City on a run of 15 consecutive wins in the Premier League, which is a Premier League record, yet he is aware of his club’s defensive struggles and feel they could undermine their attacking efforts.<\/p>\n
Vincent Kompany could not complete the Manchester Derby, while John Stones has been out injured leaving Nicholas Otamendi and the previously unwanted Eliakim Mangala as the only defensive options Guardiola has, and he wants to address that shortage.<\/p>\n
According to Sportsmail, Southampton Virgil van Dijk and Inigo Martinez of Real Sociedad are his major targets.<\/p>\n
Guardiola reiterated his desire to sign\u00a0 a new centre back next month and confirm he has told the club of that desire.<\/p>\n
He admitted that with the number of competition they are still involved in, they obviously need to get more defenders else they would be in “big trouble.”<\/p>\n
Martinez’s release clause is set at \u00a329 million, while Van Dijk could cost up to \u00a350 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite opening an eleven points gap at the top of the league table, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is not resting on his laurels as he looks to bolster his depleted defence. The Catalan has led Manchester City on a run of 15 consecutive wins in the Premier League, which is a Premier League record, yet he is aware of his club’s defensive struggles and feel they could undermine their attacking efforts. Vincent Kompany could not complete the Manchester Derby, while John Stones has been out injured leaving Nicholas Otamendi and the previously unwanted Eliakim Mangala as the only defensive options Guardiola has, and he wants to address that shortage. According to Sportsmail, Southampton Virgil van Dijk and Inigo Martinez of Real Sociedad are his major targets. Guardiola reiterated his desire to sign\u00a0 a new centre back next month and confirm he has told the club of that desire. He admitted that with the number of competition they are still involved in, they obviously need to get more defenders else they would be in “big trouble.” Martinez’s release clause is set at \u00a329 million, while Van Dijk could cost up to \u00a350 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[67,33,68],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-transfer-news","tag-inigo-martinez","tag-manchester-city","tag-virgil-van-dijk"],"yoast_head":"\n