Failure to sign Harry Kane left Pep Guardiola unsure how Man City would perform

Pep Guardiola has stressed he did not know how Manchester City’s season would pan out after their failure to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham last summer.

The City boss says a deal for Kane was “far away” with Spurs “clear this is not going to happen”, adding: “When that happens two or three or four times, it’s over.”

With no high-profile striker arriving as Sergio Aguero departed for Barcelona, City started 2021-22 with back-to-back defeats, being beaten 1-0 at Tottenham – then managed by Nuno Espirito Santo – in their Premier League opener a week after losing to Leicester by the same score in the Community Shield.

They have lost only one further league game since and currently sit nine points clear at the top of the table.

City on Saturday host eighth-placed Tottenham, now under Antonio Conte after Nuno’s sacking in November.

And Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference regarding Kane: “We tried but it was far away to be done, because Tottenham was clear this is not going to happen. And when that happens two or three or four times, it’s over.

“Now people say ‘Harry Kane didn’t come and everything is going well’ – but I didn’t know it when we lost against Tottenham in the first game and we lost against Leicester in the Community Shield.”

Now people say ‘Harry Kane didn’t come and everything is going well’ - but I didn't know it, when we lost against Tottenham in the first game, and we lost against Leicester in the Community Shield.”- Pep Guardiola

He added: “The season now, today, is here – but in three weeks I don’t know what is going to happen.

“That is why I’m not thinking about… We have these players, like I had in my first season, second, third, fourth, fifth and now sixth, and always I was delighted. The