Pep Guardiola has joked he may come out of retirement for Manchester City’s Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle. The treble winners are three games into a run of seven matches in three weeks and manager Guardiola intends to make changes for Wednesday’s third-round tie at St James’ Park.
However, with injuries affecting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, the options for rotation among his main first-team squad are actually limited.
That has prompted the former Barcelona midfielder to jest that at 52, 17 years after calling time on a distinguished playing career – and notwithstanding his recent back surgery – he could lace up his boots once again.
He said: “Some players who’ve had a lot of minutes are not going to play against Newcastle. “The Carabao Cup is great for all the guys who don’t play regularly.