Guardiola stopped Bayern from landing Man City legend as cheeky transfer trend is revealed

Jason Soutar
Man City manager Pep Guardiola hugs Kevin De Bruyne after he comes off the pitch.
Pep Guardiola hugs Kevin De Bruyne after he comes off the pitch.

Former Manchester City captain Fernandinho has revealed how Pep Guardiola stopped Kevin De Bruyne from joining Bayern Munich during his time in the Bundesliga.

Guardiola managed Bayern between 2013 and 2016, winning three Bundesliga titles and two German Cups.

Pep Guardiola told Bayern not to sign Kevin De Bruyne

From Frank Ribery to Phillip Lahm, he managed some great players during his time in Bavaria.

It has been revealed, however, that he could have landed one of the best midfielders in Premier League history.

Former City midfielder Fernandinho revealed this week that Guardiola was offered the chance to sign De Bruyne from Wolfsburg, but he told the Bayern scouts that he would not fit into his team.

Incidentally, De Bruyne – who is being linked with a move away from Man City – and Pep would meet in Manchester, and the former has gone on to become one of the all-time Premier League greats.

Fernandinho believes Guardiola knew that he was going to Man City and wanted to have De Bruyne with him there.

“He [Guardiola] was at Bayern and De Bruyne was at Wolfsburg,” the Brazilian said.

“The Bayern scouting department says, ‘We’re looking at this kid, what do you think about bringing him here?’ Pep says, ‘No, no, no, I don’t want him, I don’t think he’ll fit into our team’.

“A year passes, De Bruyne goes to Man City. Another year passes, Guardiola arrives at Man City. Got it?

“The guy knew he was going to City and sent De Bruyne there…”

De Bruyne is not the only player Pep saved for Man City

After these quotes from Fernandinho popped up on social media, it was then shared that Guardiola turned down the chance to sign two other future City players during his time at Bayern.

As shared by reputable Bayern fan page ‘iMiaSanMia’ on Twitter back in June 2015, it was reported that Bayern were no longer interested in signing Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling and De Bruyne.

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Indeed, a year later Guardiola was leaving Bayern for City, and in the summer of 2015, City signed Sterling from Liverpool and De Bruyne from Wolfsburg.

A year later, Guardiola joined the Cityzens and made Gundogan one of his first buys at the club.

Bayern will no doubt be a little bit angry that Pep wanted to save these world-class players for his next club, and they were likely none the wiser at the time.

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