Man City to convince Guardiola to stay with spectacular double signing that'll haunt Man Utd, Liverpool

Manchester City haven’t given up hope of convincing Pep Guardiola to stay for one more season and reports claim a sensational double deal that’ll sting both Manchester United and Liverpool could sway the Spaniard.

TEAMtalk were among the first to report on Guardiola’s situation four days ago, with sources telling our insider, Fraser Fletcher, that the Man City boss is ‘extremely likely’ to depart at season’s end.

Guardiola’s contract runs until the end of the 2026/27 season, but the expectation is he’ll walk away one year early.

Our reporting has since been backed up by numerous reputable outlets including the BBC. Their senior football correspondent, Sami Mokbel, insisted Pep won’t sign a new deal and there’s great uncertainty over whether he’s in the dugout for the final year of his contract.

But according to a fresh update from the i paper, there is a way Man City can twist Guardiola’s arm and convince him to stay.

They claimed Guardiola is ‘loathe to not see out a project’ and with Man City enduring a trophyless season last year and Arsenal on course to win the Premier League this year, an exit now could stain his legacy at The Etihad.

Moves for Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo were originally pencilled in for the summer. City brought both deals forward to January, though two more and even bigger signings could be on the way.

The report read: ‘The club want Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson to fill the critical central midfield vacancy they have and believe they can beat Manchester United to his signature.

‘And they are also investigating right-back targets, with Brentford’s Michael Kayode and Feyenoord’s Givairo Read among those of interest.’

Anderson is Man Utd’s No 1 transfer target in central midfield and the Red Devils won’t hesitate to pay upwards of £100m for the England international if that’s what it takes.

City would have to match their local rivals from a financial standpoint, and any such move for Anderson would see the midfielder surpass Jack Grealish (£100m) as Man City’s record buy.

Regarding right-backs, TEAMtalk have actually been informed of a much higher profile target City are exploring a move for – Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Awesome foursome could prompt Pep U-turn

Our insider, Graeme Bailey, broke news on January 25 of City assessing a shock swoop for the ex-Liverpool man whose career at Real Madrid so far can only be termed a nightmare.

The 27-eyar-old is frustrated at his lack of opportunities when fit, with Dani Carvajal and even Federico Valverde preferred at right-back at times this season.

Naturally, Real Madrid would demand a substantial fee and given they paid just €10m to sign the defender, the chance to generate a quick and gigantic profit could appeal.

More recently, we’ve been informed Liverpool would NOT enter the bidding for Alexander-Arnold if a return to England was on the cards.

The Reds are committed to Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, though seeing Alexander-Arnold back in the Premier League and at one of their biggest rivals would unquestionably leave a sour taste in Liverpool mouths.

In Alexander-Arnold, Guehi, Anderson and Semenyo, City would be landing four players in quick succession who are all in the primes of their careers right now and ready to win.

Would Guardiola walk away from the prospects of managing a team that’s just invested so heavily in impactful and Premier League-proven players? City will hope the answer to that is no.

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Biggest transfer stories today – New Liverpool winger / Man Utd contact Juventus ace

In other news, The Athletic have confirmed Liverpool will push to sign a top-class new winger in the summer transfer window, with Bradley Barcola and Yan Diomande among four options being firmly considered.

Elsewhere, Man Utd have initiated contact with the representatives of Manuel Locatelli as they try to set up a summer deal.

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