Pep Guardiola opens door to Ilkay Gundogan transfer exit to HELP Man City dressing room

Pep Guardiola has opened the door to Ilkay Gundogan leaving after admitting Manchester City will have to sell players this summer. Turkish giants Galatasaray are trying to sign 34-year-old Gundogan who has one year left on his current deal at the Etihad.

City boss Guardiola, who brought Gundogan back to the club last summer for a second spell, insisted he regards the Germany international in his plans for the Club World Cup.

But Guardiola admitted the squad is currently too big and he will have to offload players to create a harmonious dressing room rather than having too many big names not getting any game time.

When asked about Gundogan’s future, Guardiola said: “No news, good news. So I don't know anything, I didn't speak with him, and if he will not be part, he would not be here. But at the same time, we have - right now - a long squad, too many players, so we cannot go with 26, 27 players this season because there would be more without playing, and step by step maybe a few players are going to move.

“But right now, Ilkay is absolutely part of my mind and the team. I would love to have the players that we have now all season. I would love it. I don't have any complaints about the players, how they behave.

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“The problem is they will be unhappy during the season. They will be sad, they will be disappointed. I don't want that. For me it's not a problem. I have more selection and I don't like to be six, seven players, just in case, no injuries, being at home. So I do it that way. I do that for them. So that's why we have to see what happens.

"We still have a long time, I would say, until the transfer window will be closed. And yeah, we'll see what happens step by step.”

City are also set to offload England pair Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish while fit-again Rodri is still getting back to full fitness after missing a huge chunk of last season with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Guardiola said Rodri’s injury normally takes between “ten and twelve months” and believes he could be another three months before he is back to full fitness and his games will be managed in the meantime.

Guardiola, who said Rodri will not start against Al Ain in the Club World Cup on Monday night, added: “He's getting better. We're going to forget that it's almost nine months since the sad day it happened. He has been out for a long time. He's getting better. He can play 20 minutes, 30 minutes at a time. He wants to play to help but we want to protect his knee. He wants to help, Hopefully tomorrow, hopefully one day soon, he can play from the beginning.”

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