Manchester City’s Refusal to Pay above the Odds is Hurting Pep Guardiola

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore scores their second goal in their victory against Manchester City on Sunday. (Reuters)
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore scores their second goal in their victory against Manchester City on Sunday. (Reuters)
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Manchester City’s Refusal to Pay above the Odds is Hurting Pep Guardiola

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore scores their second goal in their victory against Manchester City on Sunday. (Reuters)
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore scores their second goal in their victory against Manchester City on Sunday. (Reuters)

John Stones’s thigh injury makes Manchester City’s failure to sign a center-back in the summer all the more conspicuous. Even before the 25-year-old was ruled out for up to six weeks with a problem suffered in training, Pep Guardiola had difficulty concealing frustration when asked about strengthening the position during the winter window.

The manager had confirmed his defensive linchpin, Aymeric Laporte, would be unavailable until the spring because of a damaged knee. After attempting to dismiss the signing of a stop-gap for Laporte in January as media speculation, Guardiola revealed his true feelings. “But we could not invest in this situation in the summer, we cannot do it in winter,” he said. “That’s why we are going to wait with the players we have, with the two central defenders,” meaning Stones and Nicolás Otamendi.

Except now Guardiola has only Otamendi as a frontline center-back and he can be shaky, as the mistake that gifted Norwich what proved their winner last month. The defense was exposed again in the shock 0-2 defeat to Wolves on Sunday.

Factor in how Vincent Kompany’s departure in May had caused Guardiola to target a replacement and the policy not to recruit one appears suspect and has backfired. The manager’s primary target was Harry Maguire but City’s refusal to pay Leicester’s £80m asking price did not shift. The champions valued Maguire at no higher than £65m and so lost out to Manchester United, who did meet the fee.

This is reminiscent of how City would not pay Southampton the desired £75m for Virgil van Dijk, which allowed him to move to Liverpool in January 2018. Given how the Dutchman has been key in the emergence of Jürgen Klopp’s team as title contenders and in last season’s Champions League triumph, City and Guardiola must surely regret not meeting Southampton’s demand.

Stones’s injury will surely cause the Catalan to press the hierarchy to recruit a center-back in January. When he wanted one in the summer Guardiola – strangely – ended up with a full-back, João Cancelo. The Portuguese has played one minute for City, suggesting his position was not a priority.

A key managerial mantra runs: “Strengthen from a position of strength.” For some reason, the domestic treble winners failed to adhere to this at center-back. It could prove costly as they seek to defend the Premier League title and claim a first Champions League crown.

The Guardian Sport



Wimbledon Expansion Plan Set to Proceed after High Court Ruling

FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
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Wimbledon Expansion Plan Set to Proceed after High Court Ruling

FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa

Wimbledon's controversial expansion plan is set to go ahead after a legal challenge against the decision to approve the proposal was dismissed by a High Court judge on Monday.

The 'Save Wimbledon Park' campaign group took action against the Greater London Authority's decision last year to grant a planning permission that would almost triple the size of the site for the grass-court Grand Slam.

The proposals would see the construction of 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on the grounds of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, which would allow it to host All England Club qualifiers on site instead of across south London at Roehampton.

The campaign group's barristers told the High Court earlier this month that the decision to approve the plans was "irrational" and should be quashed, as Wimbledon Park was covered by restrictions on how it could be used.

But Wimbledon chiefs defended the challenge, with the court told that the decision was a "planning judgement properly exercised" and that the restrictions were not "material".

In a ruling on Monday, Justice Saini dismissed the challenge, AFP reported.

"In short, the defendant's decision on the relevance of deliverability, applying to both the statutory trust and the restrictive covenants, was a planning judgement rationally exercised and having regard to appropriate and relevant factors," he said.

Planning permission for the scheme was initially granted by Jules Pipe, London's deputy mayor for planning, who said that the proposals "would facilitate very significant benefits" which "clearly outweigh the harm".

Following Monday's High Court ruling, the campaign group said it had been "advised that it should" seek to challenge the decision.

"SWP is not taking this step lightly but believes that the GLA did make a significant legal error in the way it dealt with the special legal status of the park," a statement said.

The latest edition of Wimbledon concluded on July 13, with Jannik Sinner winning the men's title and Iga Swiatek lifting the women's trophy.