6 players Man City failed to sign under Pep Guardiola – & how they fared elsewhere

It’s not often Pep Guardiola doesn’t get exactly what he wants, but there have been several players Manchester City have failed to sign for the legendary manager.

The Catalan coach has swept up since arriving in England in 2016. After a tricky first season, City brought out the chequebook and did their best to back Guardiola, which has paid dividends in the form of six Premier League titles, record points tallies and the club’s first-ever Champions League.

Money can’t buy absolutely everything, however. Here are six players Pep has tried and failed to sign while in charge of City.

Alexis Sanchez

Perhaps the most infamous one of all, Sanchez was ready to swap London for Manchester in January 2017 and ultimately did so – but headed to Manchester United over City after they hijacked the deal at the death.

City were close to an agreement with Arsenal for the Chilean winger the previous summer, although nothing was finalised.

Other sides had shown interest, however, and by the time they returned to close a deal in January, Sanchez’s wage demands had changed and it was the Red Devils who met them.

Considering how it panned out, it’s fair to say City dodged a bullet.

Jonny Evans

In between his two spells at United, Evans could’ve been part of a title-winning City side, which is a mindblowing thought.

It’s also a testament to how much he improved after leaving United the first time around, however.

With Pep keen to bolster his back line with more progressive options in the summer of 2017, City knocked on the door at West Brom and placed several bids for the Northern Irish centre-back.

With the window coming to a close, however, and the Baggies firm in their stance, City conceded defeat after an £18million bid was rejected and moved to other targets.

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Lionel Messi

From Belfast to Barcelona, City were linked mercilessly with Messi from the moment Guardiola arrived, given their endless supply of cash.

Aimless gossip column nonsense suddenly became serious in 2020, however, when Messi seemingly burned all bridges at a falling apart Barcelona and met with Guardiola, tempted by a move to Manchester.

It was Guardiola himself who warned Messi that he might not enjoy life in England, according to Marti Perarnau, author of ‘God Save Pep’.

Messi finished the final year of his contract with Barcelona and the rumours started again in 2021, but Paris Saint-Germain were first to get his signature.

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Dani Alves

Alves had the chance to join City in the summer of 2017 while Guardiola sought to revolutionise his defensive options with a blank cheque.

He has since confirmed that he had the opportunity to reunite with his former manager after one season at Juventus, but rejected City to sign for Paris Saint-Germain.

City instead went on to sign Kyle Walker from Tottenham.

Harry Kane

Are transfer sagas ever actually any good? No matter how many yellow graphics Sky Sports produce, it’s always a dull game of cat and mouse fuelled by excessive Fabrizio Romano updates and people pretending to be in the know.

Kane’s proposed move to City was certainly that, as it became obvious early on in the summer of 2021 that Daniel Levy would rather sleep on a bed of broken glass than sell the striker to a fellow Premier League side.

Despite him handing in a transfer request and Guardiola admitting City were in pursuit of the forward, Tottenham put their foot down and said to no £100million. It worked out as they sold him to Bayern Munich for the same price the following summer.

Harry Maguire

Another tussle between blue and red, both Manchester clubs showed interest in Maguire in the summer of 2018 following his outstanding World Cup with England.

Neither were able to pull off a move, but the defender only became more expensive a year later. City walked away from the deal at that point with Guardiola claiming they couldn’t afford Maguire, who joined United as the most expensive defender in football history.