Guardiola hints at buying a centre-back in January

Pep Guardiola has hinted at buying a centre-back in the January transfer window in bid to improve squad depth.

The Catalan spoke after City beat Leicester 2-0 on Saturday during which Jon Stones sustained a hamstring injury and is now looking at four to six weeks on the sidelines.

“Now with Jon Stones out, we have real, real problems in that position” he said. “We are going to discuss  it [whether we should buy another defender] when January is coming to see what is going on, so we are going to think about it.

“But not because Jon now is in that position so…To play in all competitions you need the biggest squad because the players don’t have time to regenerate, so we are going to see.”

Vincent Kompany returned for his first game since August against Leicester due to a calf injury, but Guardiola believes the Belgian still requires to be handled with caution.

“Of course we have to take care of him, we are trying to do that. He missed more that two-and-a-half months because he played against Gibraltar with a 9-0 scoreline.

“We have to be careful in terms of how many minutes, how he feels because he was out for two-months-and-a-half, and we miss him.”

Guardiola also has at his disposal Nicolas Otamendi,  youngster Tosin Adarabioyo and Elaquim Mangala,  with the latter having been linked a move away to West Ham.

City are top of the Premier League with an eight-point lead to second Manchester United. They play Feyenoord tomorrow at the Etihad in game 5 of the Champions League Group Stages.

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