That doesn’t happen too often.
Manchester City have some of the deepest pockets in the Premier League but they were apparently priced out of a move for one of their final transfer targets in the summer.
It was well-documented that City boss Pep Guardiola was eager to sign West Brom defender Jonny Evans in the days leading up to the deadline but the deal never got over the line.
This would be a weird one https://t.co/oH1qxZxQIo
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) August 16, 2017
City, along with Arsenal and Leicester, were keen admirers of the former Manchester United man but Evans remains a Baggies player for the coming season.
And Guardiola has revealed why City fell short in their attempts to bolster their defensive options by taking the Northern Ireland international on board.
“My colleague Tony Pulis put a price that we couldn’t afford at that moment,” Guardiola told the Guardian. “I don’t know about the summer or next season but now he’s a player for West Brom.
“We will survive. In the end we spent money, we sold players.
“We bought five players who cost around £35m each. It’s not a big issue because we sold a lot.
“We’ve got money to invest again. I’m happy with the squad and we’ll move forward with that.”
In the final hours of transfer deadline day, it was rumoured that any move for Evans would have to be funded by the departure of Eliaquim Mangala but that never came to fruition.
“If Mangala had gone I’m pretty sure we would’ve bought a new one,” Guardiola added. “Because he stayed it made no sense to buy another. We cannot change 11 players. We changed some last season, five in that season and with four in one position.
“Maybe you believe that because we’re Manchester City we could do that [buy a new one]. We are going to survive in that position. To change a team, you don’t only need one transfer window. We need more time. Even with two windows it’s not possible. We have no regrets, no complaints. The club made a huge effort.”
