Here are your Manchester City morning headlines for Thursday, 15 October.
Pep’s player characteristic he always wants in targets
Manchester City rarely have trouble coming up with the funds for any given transfer target, but that doesn’t mean just anyone is acceptable.
Quite aside from the technical traits a player has, Pep Guardiola has one other key requirement he always searches for .
"I would say we see the skills [first] but we should see more the character," he told cricketer Virat Kohli.
"The character absolutely makes the difference, being a competitor and hungry and especially in the bad moments, forget immediately the bad action and think positively about the next one.
“When you are able to find this as much as possible in the squad it is a winning team because skills don't handle pressure or ambition. Until you buy them, until you are with them it is difficult to know it. At the end it is how you handle the pressure."
Juve to compete with City for Alaba
Bayern Munich’s versatile defender David Alaba is a man in demand.
Best known as a left-back, he spent most of last term in the centre of defence and has also had great success as a midfielder, and he’ll be extremely enticing to clubs in 2021 as his contract expires at the Allianz Arena next summer.
Although City don’t tend to do business in January unless the circumstances align perfectly, they club have been linked with a move for Alaba.
But Sportmediaset say Juve are already in advanced negotiations with Alaba’s camp and they might be able to make headway on the deal after loaning Douglas Costa to Bayern in the summer.
Empty stadiums makes every game a friendly for Pep
We’re all missing fans being back inside football stadiums, but the situation doesn’t look like changing in the immediate future.
For City boss Guardiola, it’s a difficult situation to be in as it makes football completely different by dulling the competitive edge.
"It is like a friendly game every time. It is not the same. We have to do it because the show must go on and there is a lot of money involved,” he said to Kohli.
“People can enjoy it on TV of course but we need the people to come back.
"You feel empty. The bad moments are less bad and the good moments are less good. In sport [normally], in the nice moments your adrenaline is high and top and in the bad moments you are depressed because you lose.”
