Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola monitoring Barcelona star
According to a report from Italian news outlet Calciomercato, Manchester City are monitoring Sergi Roberto’s situation at Barcelona.
The Spanish international’s future at Barcelona is up in the air. Sergi Roberto, 29, has a contract until the summer of 2022 but Barcelona have yet to tie him down to a new deal. As the full-back is into the final year of his contract, he will be free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from January.
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And Roberto’s current situation at Camp Nou isn’t going unnoticed, with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola keen to bring him to Premier League next year, reports Calciomercato.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, who likes to operate in central midfield, joined the Barcelona academy back in 2006. He graduated through the youth ranks before making his senior bow in the 2010/11 season under then Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
Roberto has gone onto make more than 200 La Liga appearances for the Catalan giants, scoring five goals. However, he has really struggled with form and fitness over the past few years and was limited to just 15 La Liga appearances last term.
The Spaniard may have started the new campaign strongly with two goals in six league games, but his current contract situation has made his future uncertain at Camp Nou. Having worked with the player and given him his debut at Barcelona, Pep Guardiola seemingly wants Roberto in his squad.
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Benjamin Mendy’s suspension has left the Manchester City boss with Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko as the only options at full-back. Perhaps, Guardiola’s interest in bringing Roberto to the Etihad Stadium is to beef up his full-back options, even though the Spaniard is a central midfielder by trade.
Roberto’s versatility to operate in various positions across the defence and the attack could only benefit Manchester City in the second half of this season if they manage to sign him on a cut-price deal in January. However, it remains to be seen how genuine the Sky Blues’ interest in the Barcelona star is.