Pep Guardiola rules out move for free agent Claudio Marchisio

Bengaluru, August 19: Former Juventus star midfielder Claudio Marchisio will not be joining Manchester City to fill the void left by the injury to Kevin De Bruyne.

The Cityzens are in a difficult situation right now after their Belgian magician was ruled out for three months with an LCL injury this week and it even led to them being linked with 32-year-old Italy international Marchisio, who left his boyhood club Juventus in June.

However, City boss Guardiola has ruled out bringing in the free agent and insists he has faith in his current pool of talent, at least until the January window opens.

When quizzed about a swoop for Marchisio, he said: “No. First a big comment for his career - he made an amazing career at Juventus and with the national team.

“In December, we are going to see what happens in the [next] transfer window but now the squad is the squad.”

Meanwhile, Guardiola also believes the heavy workload enforced on players is behind De Bruyne’s blow.

The talismanic midfielder played 52 times for City last season before helping his country to finish third at the World Cup.

He returned to training just a week before the Premier League kick-off seven days ago and his manager thinks the lack of time off could have had a physical effect on his playmaker.

Guardiola said: “Last season Kevin was outstanding in all terms. For him and his family, these long injuries, you never want it. But you accept it as part of the game.

“They don't rest. It was a tough, tough season last season. They come back after a short recovery and we demand in the first moment, 'come on, let's go' because we are in the competition.

“Of course, the human beings have a limit and sometimes these kind of things happen. We'll never know, I don't know exactly. But my opinion is that we demand a lot of the players for more than 11 months. Immediately they come back and something like this happens.

“I don't know the reason why, nobody knows, but I'm pretty sure this can influence. When you are fresh here [your head] and fresh in your legs [after] normal vacations and holidays… that doesn't happen right now. Sometimes these things can happen.”