Is Pep Guardiola’s Stand on January Transfer Window Justified?

As Ferran Torres completes his move to Barcelona, questions have been asked of Pep Guardiola regarding a replacement for the forward. The 21-year-old was mostly used as a striker after the departure of the legendary Sergio Aguero.

A long-drawn battle with Tottenham for Harry Kane’s signature yielded no good results. The London club refused to make a deal much to the disappointment of the player.

That left City shorthanded in attack. Torres was used as the striker to fill the huge void left by Aguero. He grew into his new role scoring seven goals in 15 league starts during his first season at the Etihad Stadium.

Unfortunately, a long-term injury during international duty with Spain cut short his progress this term. Just when he was getting set to make a comeback, Barcelona came calling. The opportunity to go back home and play for one of the biggest clubs in the land was too good to turn down.

The issue for City now is how to move forward. Still lacking a proper No.9 as Gabriel Jesus prefers playing from the wings these days, the manager is expected to take advantage of the January transfer window to get one.

But it appears the Blues boss is not interested. In fact, he has categorically stated that he will not sign one.

“No, we’re not going to bring in any striker in January,” Guardiola said at a press conference when asked if he would move for one.

It does appear that City are not in great need of a striker at the moment given the fact that the team has been scoring freely. The 6-3 win against Leicester shows just how much the team can dig deep to come up with the goals when needed.

However, it’s worthy of note that there’s no City player in the Premier League’s top five goalscorers’ list this season. Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva come in at seventh place with seven strikes each. The next City player on the list is Kevin De Bruyne at 18th having netted five times.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah leads the race for the Golden Boot with 15 goals. Normally, the team on top of the table should have a player challenging for the accolade. But that is highly unlikely at the moment given that City have no focal point in attack.

If anything though, the success achieved in the first half of season suggests that there is no need to change things. So it’s understandable that the manager will stick to what is working for him. There’s no need to do anything that will affect the current rhythm the team is enjoying.

Besides, it’s usually difficult to sign a top class player in January. Add to that the scarcity of exceptional strikers that could meet City’s needs and the decision begins to make sense.

The only player that fits the bill to take Aguero’s place is Erling Haaland. The best time to get him will be in the summer.

City may as well bid their time and go all out for him at the end of the season.