'It depends if it is possible' - Man City prepared to 'go without a striker' amid Kane links, insists Guardiola

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The Spanish head coach has admitted that there may not be any more attacking reinforcements arriving at Etihad Stadium this summer

Pep Guardiola has insisted that Manchester City are prepared to "go without a striker" amid continued talk of a possible move for Tottenham's Harry Kane.

City are being tipped to add another centre-forward to their ranks ahead of the new season, having seen club legend Sergio Aguero depart at the end of his final contract in June.

Kane is reportedly top of Guardiola's list of targets, but the Spaniard is ready to continue with his current squad if the Premier League champions are unable to push a deal over the line.

Guardiola addressed whether City need to replace Aguero after seeing his side suffer a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Leicester City in the Community Shield final on Saturday.

"It depends if it is possible. If it is we do it, if not we go without a striker," he said.

"Tomorrow seven or eight players arrive back. That's why I guess at the beginning of the season we will try to get results without being at our best.

"We know we will not be at our best but the players will be better next Sunday. That is the process we have to do."

Goal understands that City are ready to table an opening bid of £100 million ($139m) for Kane, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is reportedly set to hold out for an amount closer to £150m ($208m).

Kane is thought to be eager to push through a move as he seeks to start winning the biggest prizes on offer in the game after another trophyless season with Tottenham in 2020-21.

However, the England international still has three years left to run on his current contract, and it remains to be seen whether City will be willing to break the British transfer record again having already forked out £100m to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.

Guardiola handed Grealish his City debut in the second half of the Wembley meeting with Leicester, and was pleased with his overall impact on proceedings.

He expects the 25-year-old to get even better once the rest of his squad returns to Etihad Stadium following their summer holidays, as he added: "He was really good – aggressive, going against full-backs and every time he had the ball there were three players [around him]," said Guardiola.

"We will [get to] know him and step by step he will find the best [form]. How can he build a relation when his mates are not here? But it’s not a problem, he knows Kyle [Walker] and Raz [Raheem Sterling] and Phil [Foden] and they are back tomorrow.

"We just need to provide him and let him express his quality. He didn’t come for 25 minutes, he came for five-six years."

2021-08-08 10:00:02

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