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Pep Guardiola says he wants to keep Kyle Walker at Manchester City, but admits Cole Palmer could leave before the transfer window closes.
City kick-off the new Premier League season on Friday night against Championship champions Burnley.
Off the back of their historic treble win, the Citizens are looking to become the first team in history to win four consecutive Premier League titles and have yet again invested heavily in the market in order to do so.
So far they have signed Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig and Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and could yet make more additions having recently offered West Ham £70million for midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
Guardiola refused to speak on that story in his pre-match press conference on Thursday however, simply stating: ‘I will not answer about Paqueta. He is a West Ham player.’
But City have also lost several key players over the summer, namely captain Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez, and more could be leaving the Etihad, such as Walker, Palmer and Bernardo Silva.
Walker has been closely linked with Bayern Munich, but it was recently reported that the right-back would be staying in England and was close to agreeing a new contract.
Guardiola would not confirm this however, claiming he had ‘no news’ on the matter, but did say: ‘We are wishing he stays. Since a long time we have made this feeling known.’
He did open up more about Palmer’s future, who is on the radar of West Ham and therefore could be used as makeweight in any potential Paqueta deal.
The forward has been of interest to many clubs since playing a starring role in England’s victorious U21 Euros campaign, and scored a speculator goal in City’s Community Shield defeat to Arsenal last weekend.
The 21-year-old has made just 39 appearances, many of them off the bench, for his boyhood club since making his debut in 2020, scoring just five goals and two assists in that time.
‘Cole is with us. Today he is with us. What is going to happen, I don’t know,’ his manager said.
‘I understand he wants to be more active than the previous season. But Riyad has gone so we have one more place there.
‘I cannot say anything because, of course, all the decisions need to be made by the club. The club has to decide what the best is. All together, we will do it.’
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