Guardiola: City needs another centre-back despite Kompany resurgence
Pep Guardiola is wary of starting next season with his current complement of centre-halves due to the injury issues Vincent Kompany has dealt with over the past few years.
The Manchester City captain was again commanding at the back in Saturday's 5-0 battering of Crystal Palace, and even smacked a vicious first-time strike past Wayne Hennessey. The outing meant Kompany had completed 90 minutes in six of City's last seven matches, which is a vast improvement on a fitness record that's seen him sidelined for almost 80 games in the last three seasons.
Despite his skipper showing signs of returning to his best, Guardiola is still keen to strengthen his squad with another centre-back in the summer. Tottenham Hotspur's Toby Alderweireld, Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci, and Southampton's Virgil van Dijk have been among the names linked with City.
"Hopefully I can be confident about him for next season. I think when he is in that situation (of good form) there is no doubt about that, but we have to cover our backs," Guardiola told the Guardian's Jamie Jackson. "We cannot give all our confidence he will be fit because of what we have experienced the last few years. We have to have backups if something happens, but of course with Vincent in that form it is good."
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Guardiola is encouraged by Kompany's progress since he completed a full match for the first time in almost a year against Chelsea on April 5. He appreciates how his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini must have missed the defender's leadership and aerial presence during his elongated spells out of commission and, ever the tinkerer, has identified a new position for the Belgian.
"Against Palace we discovered maybe he can play striker. He made not a bad goal," Guardiola said.
Related - Watch: Kompany channels inner striker in Palace thrashing
Kompany was paired with Nicolas Otamendi once more on Saturday, and was backed up by left-back-cum-centre-half Aleksandar Kolarov on the bench. John Stones is currently nursing an injury but is hoped to return before the end of the season, and Jason Denayer, a loanee at Sunderland, will hope to push for recognition under Guardiola during preseason for the next campaign. Tosin Adarabioyo and Cameron Humphreys are the prominent emerging talents from the Elite Development Squad.
City entertains Leicester City in next Saturday's early kick-off, before concluding the 2016-17 term at home against West Bromwich Albion and then at Watford on May 21.