Man City considering new left-back signing as Guardiola confirms 'three or four' midfield targets

Pep Guardiola says he has identified "three or four" transfer targets capable of replacing Fernandinho in the Manchester City midfield, and says he could also sign a new left-back.

Guardiola confirmed ahead of Monday's win over Wolves that finding an alternative to the Brazil international would be an "important target" ahead of next season.

The Catalan also spoke at length about the difficulty of finding suitable players, especially as City are unwilling to spend £100 million to do so. 

"It's so difficult to find," he said of players with Fernandinho's profile. "He knows the Premier League, after three years together here, he knows everything and that's so important."

City pursued Jorginho last summer and have still not given up hope of signing Frenkie De Jong from Ajax while it is understood they are also keeping tabs on Lyon's Tanguy Ndombele and Wolves' Ruben Neves, among others.

That represents a broad spread of players with differing strengths and weaknesses, and speaking at his Friday press conference Guardiola outlined exactly what he is looking for.

"We need a guy who has physicality, can read where our spaces are to attack," he said. "As many things as he can do, the better. It’s not easy to find one player who can do everything."

Asked if he has identified anybody capable of fitting the bill, he replied: "Yeah we've seen many. There are three or four we are looking at, searching for that position."

Guardiola also confirmed that City are considering the signing of a new left-back, although he insisted that his side have coped well without Benjamin Mendy, who missed most of last season and much of this.

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Goal understands that the City boss is especially keen to sign an alternative to Mendy, with Leicester City's Ben Chilwell among the list of options.

"We survived well last season, this season too," he said of Mendy. "But we are thinking about that yeah. I cannot assure you as I'm delighted with the players I have, but we are going to look at that option."

Mendy has already had several training sessions and is now building up his fitness ahead of a return to the first team.

The France international had surgery on a meniscus injury at the end of last year, having already missed part of the season with a foot problem.