Pep Talk: “All the time we are here every week together, I say I want the best for the players.”

Speaking in his pre-match press conference before the opening match of the Premer League as they face West Ham, City’s manager Pep Guardiola had a lot to talk about.

A lot to cover, let’s dive in:

Pep on Bernardo situation

“I would love to have Bernardo continue here - he is a special player in the locker room - but honestly I don’t know what will happen,” he explained at his pre-match press conference.

“If he stays it is perfect. If in the end he has to leave it is because football is like this, the clubs are in agreement and the player has desires.

“I would not stop the desire of people. When you are a football player, it is so short. You don’t realise and then immediately it is over.

“They have to talk to the club and I am never involved in that. And when the club decides, for me it is okay.

“All the time we are here every week together, I say I want the best for the players.

“I want Bernardo to stay, definitely. Finding players is difficult. 100%, I want Bernardo to stay here.

“But at the same time, if you want to leave, you have an offer and the clubs have an agreement…it’s common sense what I said. I did not say nothing special. This is reality.

“He is an important player for me. Bernardo is special but I don’t know what will happen. Manchester City, as far as I know, we did not get an offer, last season neither.”

Pep on relationship with players

“I am more relaxed as a manager with them. I know them already - the feelings they have, their good moments and bad moments. So I talk to them but not especially about this situation.

“If I have something, I will tell him and if he has something to tell me, he will tell me. I don’t have doubts about this.

“We don’t talk about this situation. He is our player, I know he is happy, he is engaged, he has a beautiful dog. He is happy here, I know that. What is going to happen is going to happen.”

Pep on squad size

“It is what it is. We have shown in the last years we have a small squad and we are there in the last stages. We have a transfer window in winter where we can take something we cannot do now.”

“Nothing special. We are the same,” he said.

“Josh is there. Joao is there. Nathan is there. We will see. We have two weeks until the end of the month and we will see.

“There are a lot of players around the world and a lot of them can suit perfectly this team and the way we are.

“The transfer market is often difficult. Selling is harder than buying but sometimes it is not possible. We have an academy and we will see.”

Pep on contract status

“We have spoke with the Club - in middle or the end we will talk again and decide what is best,” he said.

“I have said many times, I will extend, if they want it. I would like to stay longer, but at the same time I have to be sure. It is not the second season, third season - it’s many years already.

“I have to see how the players behave, I don’t want to be a problem. Sometimes if you extend and force things, it is not good.

“You have to be relaxed. This kind of situation will happen in a natural way. If you force it, it is not going well. We will see what happens during the season, how we feel and the best decision for the club is going to be taken.”

We could be in for a fun season, but Pep’s contract status will linger, let’s hope that gets solved midseason.

New season, quite excited, let’s go!