Pep Guardiola ‘will look for something’ to improve Manchester City during January transfer window

Pep Guardiola has said he could recruit new players in January as Manchester City prepare to take on Hull City on Boxing Day. Carl Recine / Reuters

Pep Guardiola has said he is eyeing the January sales but has cancelled Christmas for his Manchester City players.

While the Catalan, who will make his team both train and travel on Christmas Day, said he is content with the squad he has, he refused to rule out recruiting reinforcements next month as he said he will try to strike a deal.

Guardiola spent £165 million (Dh742.4m), a record for an English club in one transfer window, during the summer and is considering whether to buy again.

City have been short of central defenders, with Vincent Kompany sidelined for more than a month, while midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has been ruled out for the season with a knee problem. They have been linked with Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke and Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk.

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“I am not denying that we will look for something but I am happy with what we have,” Guardiola said. “I am confident in the players that we have.”

City are certain to have one addition to the squad in 2017 with Gabriel Jesus, who was bought for an initial £27m in August, set to link up with his new club.

The 19-year-old winger, who can also operate as a centre-forward, has helped Palmeiras win the Brazilian title as well as playing a part in his country’s Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.

“Of course Gabriel Jesus is coming, we will have another striker and we will finish the season with almost all of our players,” Guardiola said.

Kompany is the only player definitely out of City’s Boxing Day trip to Hull City, though Pablo Zabaleta, who was substituted in the 2-1 win over Arsenal, will be assessed. The Argentine left the Etihad Stadium on Sunday with his leg in a brace and could be replaced in the starting line-up by Bacary Sagna.

While Hull manager Mike Phelan has given his players Christmas Day off, City will board a bus to East Yorkshire as Guardiola will approach a packed festive programme for the first time as a manager treating it like every other day.

“This is my first year here and people say that at Christmas you have to be focused because at home you celebrate with dinner and lunch and we have to be prepared,” he said.

“We are going to train in the afternoon on the 25th and travel to Hull play on the 26th and we will prepare the game as if it was not Christmas time or Boxing Day.”

Hull prop up the division after taking just six points from their last 15 games, but Guardiola is wary of the relegation-threatened side nonetheless.

“They started quite well but the situation is not good,” he said. “I saw many of their games and they are a special team who tried to play more here than other teams in the Premier League.

“What I have learnt in my short time here is that the gap between the first 10 (teams in the table) and the last 10 is not a big difference. That is why it is difficult to win.”

Hull will be without injured striker Abel Hernandez, but the Uruguayan forward is among six players whose contracts have been automatically extended to 2018.

Phelan triggered extensions to keep centre-backs Michael Dawson and Harry Maguire, left-back Andrew Robertson, midfielder Jake Livermore and winger Robert Snodgrass, who has been linked with moves to West Ham United and Newcastle.

“What we’ve done with not just Robert, with a few of the players here, we’ve exercised the options that are in their contracts,” Phelan said.

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