Pep Guardiola issues Ruben Dias verdict as record signing starts Manchester City training

Pep Guardiola thinks Ruben Dias will be the backbone of this young Manchester City team for the foreseeable future. The Citizens manager believes his side now have a group of young, footballing centre backs who can grow together and form a solid core to the team. Dias was bought for a club record £65.2million, quite a fee for a 23-year-old, but his leadership qualities were a significant factor in City’s decision to go for him. He linked up with the squad for the first time in training today, and Guardiola feels he will become a fixture. “We know his personality and I’m pretty sure he will be an incredible player for this club for the next five, six, seven years,” he said. “My compliments to the club for making this effort to get him because now our back four is a young, young group.” Guardiola then gave his central defenders a name-check and, interestingly omitted Eric Garcia, who wants to join Barcelona, who have not been prepared to meet City’s asking price. But Guardiola did include 18-year-old Taylor Harwood-Bellis, saying: “We’ve got John (Stones), we’ve got Ruben, Taylor, Nathan (Ake) and Aymer - it’s a young team.” The City boss also added: “He (Dias) will start on Thursday to train with us and we’ll try to get him ready as quickly as possible to play in the games.” Source- Manchester Evening News Join us on Telegram

Pep Guardiola gives verdict on Manchester City transfers before end of window