Guardiola targets two players to revamp his defence

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Bengaluru, December 15: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is eager to improve the defence of the Cityzens as he wants to take the club to another level.

The former Barcelona and Bayern manager has identified Southampton defender Virgil van dijk and Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez as potential targets.

Guardiola is reported to have convinced City's board to hand him the funds to improve his backline in January and is expected to move for van Dijk first due to his Premier League experience which gives him an edge over Martinez.

Man City are in a dream run and have clinched a record 15th straight league win at Swansea last night.

However, Guardiola wants another defender as they look to continue fighting on four fronts in 2018.

Guardiola was keen on Van Dijk in the summer but Southampton refused to sell him - despite the Dutch centre-back going on strike.

Real Sociedad's Martinez, 26, was another said to be on City's radar when they drew up a list of defensive targets.

The Basque defender has four years amd is unlikely to be snared on the cheap, with Van Dijk still believed to be City's number one target.

When asked whether he wanted to strenghten his defence in January, Guardiola said yesterday: “We are thinking about it.

“In that department we have too few players and to handle all competitions we are in trouble, real trouble if this is the case.

"But I can’t assure anything. We’re going to see what will happen in January.

“Maybe we are thinking of looking at another central defender because of Vincent Kompany’s problems, John Stones is four or five weeks out. And we miss an important player like Benjamin Mendy.”

The Cityzens are in the last 16 of the Champions League and could be in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup if they can win at Leicester next Tuesday (December 19).