Pep Guardiola has said he will retire if he is given a great player to give him a big squad after the summer transfer window.
Manchester City’s top players were not in the squad for Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth and Guardiola that he was unhappy with all the players.
Abdokodom Khosanov, Savinho, James Makatti, Klodi Echeveri and Rico Luis were all in Tuesday’s 20th squad when City finished third in the Premier League on one of the Champions League qualifiers.
But, despite the fact that the depth that Guardiola has at his hands, the Spaniard wants to work with a smaller squad.
“I told the club I don’t want that (a larger squad). I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don’t want that.
“It’s impossible for my soul,” Guardiola said.
“Maybe three or four months we couldn’t choose 11 players, we didn’t have a defender, it was so difficult.
“As a manager, I can’t train 24 players and every time I choose it, four, five or six players must stay at home because they can’t play. This doesn’t happen,” he said. I told the club. I don’t want that.
City spent more than £200m on four players in January after suffering a hamstring injury. Kevin de Bruyne is one of the players who will definitely leave in the summer, while Jack Grell’s future is doubtful.
When asked if it was more inevitable, Guardiola said: “It’s a question for the club. I don’t want to have 24, 25, 26 players when everyone is in good condition.
Guardiola said a big squad is ugly and important to the “spirituality of the team” that his players “build another relationship with each other that we have lost a little this season,” Guardiola said.