Guardiola laughs off Lewandowski question, happy with City squad

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola laughed off a question probing possible interest in Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski on Friday and said he would be happy if the transfer window ended immediately.

Sky Sports had reported that Poland striker Lewandowski, signed by Guardiola when the Spaniard was at Bayern, was looking for a new challenge with another top European club.

“Next question,” said the Spaniard. “Lewy is such an important player for Bayern Munich and he will stay at Bayern Munich.

“I am not going to talk, with 11 days left, about the transfer market.”

Premier League champions City are most keen on Tottenham Hotspur’s England striker Harry Kane, who wants to leave in order to challenge for major trophies.

Asked by reporters if he would be happy to go forward with the squad that he has at the moment, Guardiola replied: “Absolutely. More than happy. It is the same team, except Sergio (Aguero) for Jack Grealish, that we had last season.”

Argentine Aguero, the club’s all-time top scorer, has moved to Barcelona with Grealish signed from Aston Villa as the Premier League’s first 100 million pound ($136.02 million) player.

Guardiola said Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruyne had not trained on Friday and was doubtful for Saturday’s home game against promoted Norwich City.

“Kevin has a problem still with his ankle. Tomorrow we’ll see how the situation is.”

Fellow midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has recovered from a shoulder problem, however.

“The rest of the team, everybody’s fit except Phil Foden,” said the manager.

City lost their season opener 1-0 at Spurs last weekend and Guardiola was taking nothing for granted against the Canaries.

“Daniel (Farke) is an exceptional manager, I always enjoy a lot watching his teams playing,” he said. “We are going to face a really good team… but at the same time we are delighted to play finally at the Etihad with our people.

“Every week, every day the players are better.”