{"id":233871,"date":"2026-01-08T08:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/233871\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T08:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:14:07","slug":"guardiola-keeps-his-counsel-over-semenyo-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/233871\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardiola keeps his counsel over Semenyo signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pep Guardiola refused to confirm Manchester City were on the brink of signing Antoine Semenyo after his side dropped more points in the title race.<\/p>\n

The Bournemouth winger is expected to undergo a medical on Thursday after City reportedly agreed to meet the Ghana international’s \u00a365 million (\u20ac74.9m) release clause.<\/p>\n

Guardiola\u2019s need for Semenyo\u2019s creativity was underlined on Wednesday as City were held 1-1 by Brighton at the Etihad Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a third successive draw and a result that means Premier League leaders Arsenal will have a chance to move eight points clear when they host champions Liverpool on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Asked if City were poised to sign a winger, manager Guardiola said: “I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know what is going to happen in the transfer window.”<\/p>\n

The home side had been on course to return to winning ways after Erling Haaland scored from the penalty spot before the interval but Kaoru Mitoma\u2019s first goal since September meant more damage to their title hopes.<\/p>\n

“Of course if you don\u2019t win games we cannot think about these things,” Guardiola admitted.<\/p>\n

Guardiola had no complaints about the result but bemoaned the chances his side wasted.<\/p>\n

Bernardo Silva, Haaland and Rayan Cherki all spurned good opportunities in the second half.<\/p>\n

Guardiola said: “The result is the result. I\u2019m not a person who believes what we have done isn\u2019t fair. One point for them, one point for us. That is what it is.<\/p>\n

\"Kaoru
\nBrighton’s Kaoru Mitoma ensured that Man City did not take all three points<\/p>\n

“I love a lot the way we played, we did many good things, but we don\u2019t score goals. There are too many clear chances.<\/p>\n

“It is not just one or two players, it is all the players up front who create a lot. Unfortunately we couldn\u2019t score and scoring goals is part of the job.<\/p>\n

“That is the reason why we could not win the games.”<\/p>\n

Guardiola was booked during the game for his angry reaction when the penalty decision initially went against City. The spot-kick, for a foul on Jeremy Doku, was only awarded following a VAR review.<\/p>\n

Guardiola, who argued with opposite number Fabian Hurzeler, said: “I was complaining, why it was no penalty. And I was right.”<\/p>\n

Hurzeler played down that incident.<\/p>\n

He said: “I think when it\u2019s a tight game it\u2019s always emotional and everyone shares their opinion. That\u2019s football.<\/p>\n

“I have huge respect for everyone from City and everyone from the staff. Emotions are part of the football game so everything is fine.”<\/p>\n

Hurzeler had mixed feelings on the game, adding: “We started really strong, we created three big chances and we should have scored one goal.<\/p>\n

“The penalty came out of nowhere and changed the dynamic of the game.<\/p>\n

“We came back out of nowhere and had two or three big chances to go in front but then City had chances. Overall, there were ups and downs.”<\/p>\n

Guardiola confirmed injured winger Savinho could be out for a further two months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola refused to confirm Manchester City were on the brink of signing Antoine Semenyo after his side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-233871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}