Pep Guardiola has boldly declared that he will not replace any of his Manchester City players with Barcelona captain Lionel Messi or Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
City have hit their stride this season and have shown little sign of relaunching after setting a top-flight England record winning their last 16 appearances in all competitions.
And Guardiola’s men are currently undefeated in their last 23 games and seek silverware in multiple competitions.
City lead the Premier League and have already confirmed their place in the League Cup final, while reaching the last 16 of the Champions League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Speaking after City’s 3-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday, Guardiola said: “We don’t have players who can win the game on their own.
“We don’t have a Messi, a Cristiano, [Kylian] Mbappe or Neymar. We have to do it as a team. “
Messi, 33, has been linked with both City and Paris Saint-Germain amid growing uncertainty over his future at Barcelona.
However, Guardiola has hinted that he would welcome the addition of a player who can score ‘every game’ and ‘run like these players can run’.
The City boss explained, “I’ll be honest. I would like to have a player to score, every game, four goals and run like these players can run. I’d love it.
“But I won’t change any player that we have right now, this season. All showed up in bad times.
“In good times everyone finds it easy to play, but in great teams great players show it in bad times.
“We’ve had some bad times this season. We had a moment where we were 12th in the table, we were five points behind Tottenham.
“They were leading the championship when we lost there. Now we are 17 points ahead of them. It means how consistent we’ve been, how we’ve turned the tables. It means a lot. “
City will resume their Premier League campaign on Wednesday as they travel to Goodison Park for their clash with Everton.
