Pep Guardiola has dismissed reports linking Manchester City with a move for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe.
Reports in the British media this week claimed Guardiola was willing to break the world transfer record to bring Mbappe to Manchester in January, with Raheem Sterling likely to be sold in order to finance the move.
Guardiola, however, was emphatic when asked about Mbappe at his press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game against Hoffenheim.
“That is not going to happen,” the Spaniard said. “Sometimes I don’t understand where the news comes from.
“Manchester City don’t have, and are not going to spend, the money that maybe Mbappe deserves, or PSG deserves.
“PSG is not going to sell this kind of player to any other club in the world for the next years, I guess. So that is not going to happen.
“Mbappe is not going to come here and we are not going to swap Raheem [Sterling] or another top player that we have.”
City were defeated 2-1 at home by Lyon in their opening game in Champions League Group F and Guardiola admits that has put his side under pressure to get three points against Hoffenheim.
“We have five finals to qualify. In the Champions League we don’t have time to lose a lot of games,” Guardiola said.
“We missed the first one so we know the situation – five finals and tomorrow is the first one.”
