Man City boss Pep Guardiola reveals thoughts on Liverpool spending £75m on Virgil van Dijk
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he has no problem with spending big money on defenders – because expensive players can work out cheap in the long run.
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The Manchester City boss has missed out on Virgil van Dijk after Liverpool snapped up the centre-back from Southampton on Thursday in a £75m deal.
Guardiola has spent heavily on defenders himself in recent months, though – bringing in Benjamin Mendy from Monaco in a deal that could be worth £52m, Kyle Walker from Tottenham for an initial £45m, and Danilo from Real Madrid for £26.5m.
That came a year after he spent £47.5m prising England centre-back John Stones away from Everton.
And he insists that he is happy to keep on spending if it ensures quality – adding that Van Dijk will turn out to be a good buy for Jurgen Klopp.
Guardiola said: “Liverpool took an amazing player. Van Dijk is an exceptional central defender, that's a price we'll see [again] in the future.
Sometimes the cheaper players are more expensive than the expensive players
“Sometimes the cheaper players are more expensive than the expensive players. If he played six or seven years at a high level it would be cheap. If he played not well, more expensive.
“John Stones, when he came here, people said he was too expensive. Now he’s too cheap. It always depends on the value of what happens on the pitch.”
Guardiola may need to buy another centre-back in January, with Vincent Kompany having suffered three injury setbacks already this season.
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Kompany limped off after just 11 minutes at Newcastle on Wednesday with a calf problem, and Guardiola is unsure if he will be available for Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
He said: “He's not as bad as we thought. We think he will be ready for the next fixtures but we'll know exactly tomorrow. It’s not a big issue and he can be soon ready to help us.”
Victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday would be City’s 19th league win on the trot – equalling Guardiola’s personal record, set with Bayern Munich four seasons ago.
But the City boss has warned his players that they will lose a league game sooner or later, and that they have to be ready to bounce back when they do.
He said: “I have told the players many times that we are going to lose a game. It's important how we react.
“The problem is not losing a game, it’s how you react and immediately win again. That's the most important thing in any league if you want to win the title.
“It will be news, OK, finally Man City lose one game. That will not be big news. The big news will be to win again immediately.
“That is what I am concerned with when I am thinking about the future. I insist many times, this isn't real or normal, we are going to drop points and that's when I want to see my team.”
