Pep Guardiola, Manchester City boss, has claimed they could not afford to add another striker to the squad in the summer.
Guardiola, while speaking ahead of their Champions League trip to Marseille, said he wanted to bring in another forward in the class of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.
City were linked with a sensational move for Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, after the Argentine declared his intentions to leave the Camp Nou.
However, a reunion with Guardiola fell through.
Now with Aguero and Jesus both facing spells on the sidelines with muscle injuries, Guardiola has revealed how he wanted to strengthen his striker but didn’t have the funds to do so.
“If you decide to buy a striker, it has to be a striker in the league of Gabriel and Sergio but we cannot afford it. That is the reality.
“I’m not saying the club didn’t want to do it – they wanted to make as strong a team as possible. But we thought: “OK, Sergio is back.” We didn’t expect Gabriel to be injured, sometimes it happens,” he said.