Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City would have been heavily criticised for signing £105m-rated Declan Rice ahead of his side’s meeting with Arsenal on Sunday.
Guardiola’s Premier League champions entered the race to sign Rice from West Ham United last summer. After Arsenal had two opening bids rejected by the Europa Conference League champions, City waded in with a £90m offer.
“Everyone knows we wanted him,” Guardiola snapped ahead of City’s Premier League clash with Rice’s new employers Arsenal on Sunday. “We could play him when Rodri could not play.” City’s totemic Spanish midfielder serves the final game of his three-match suspension against the Gunners.
Rice explained earlier this month it was Arteta’s vision at Arsenal that convinced him to move to north London. Guardiola was more vague on the reasons but insisted City did not have the funds to finance the £105m fee which Arsenal belatedly agreed to, especially after paying £77.6m to bring Josko Gvardiol to the Etihad from RB Leipzig.
“But in the end, Arsenal pushed more, wanted him or maybe Mikel was more convincing than me, or the club itself,” Guardiola sighed. “The offer they got we could not reach it because we thought about Josko Gvardiol in that position and we could not afford to pay that much. That is why.”
Guardiola took the topic of big spending to call out the perceived criticism that City would receive for paying a nine-digit transfer fee.
“Normally when City spend this amount of money it is crazy,” the Catalan coach claimed. “When others spend it, then it is how smart they are. That happens. But I am not denying anyone can do whatever they want. I never judge what the others do.
“We are judged all the time, but it is fine. If we were in the middle of the table that wouldn’t happen, we would not be a problem or under scrutiny from the rest.”
Earlier this season, Guardiola claimed the media “would kill me” if City embarked upon the same spending spree as Chelsea. The reigning top-flight champions were accused of more than 100 alleged financial rule breaches by the Premier League in February. The investigation is still ongoing.
Guardiola added: “But Arsenal believed they had to do it [buy Rice]. That is more than fine. They have lost important players but now their recruitment is really good and they have a young squad for many years.
“So the perspective for many now is that they will be there for a long time. Declan Rice is an exceptional holding midfielder with the national team, so he is an exceptional player.”
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