Pep Guardiola makes Man Utd promise to his players that would upset Etihad bosses

Manchester City boss believes only “a small club” would block a move on the grounds that it would strengthen another team – although he did admit that his Etihad bosses might have other ideas

Pep Guardiola has claimed he would never prevent one of his Manchester City players from signing for a rival – even if they wanted to join Manchester United or Liverpool.

The City boss believes only “a small club” would block a move on the grounds that it would strengthen another team – although he did admit that his Etihad bosses might have other ideas.

City face former players Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer when they meet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Last season, after selling Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal, the Gunners were transformed into City’s biggest challengers for the title.

Guardiola, asked if would ever prevent an unsettled player from signing for a serious rival, said: “Never. Never ever. “From my point of view, I have said this to the club many times.

“I give my opinion to the club and they decide if the transfer suits for both sides and the player. Why? I think that means you are a small club (if you block a transfer). Big clubs, they don’t care.

“They make decisions for the benefit of all three parties: players and both clubs – and the agents sometimes. So really it is not a problem. If they want to go to Chelsea or United or, I don’t know, Liverpool, whatever, what is the problem?

“They are happy to be there and the club is happy with the transfer. The other club is happy with the amount of money they spend, so it is fine. Another player will come to us and we keep going in a good spirit and a good mood.”

Sterling was allowed to leave with Guardiola’s blessing last year after falling out of favour. Palmer followed him to Stamford Bridge in a £42.5million deal this summer – despite the City manager telling the Manchester-born 21-year-old that the departure of Riyad Mahrez would guarantee him more game-time.

Guardiola added: “Cole arrived and accepted some processes and then after one or two years said ‘No, I don’t want to play here, I am not going to play.’ I said ‘Riyad is leaving, you are going to get a chance here’ and he said ‘No, I am not going to play here, I want to leave’ so I said ‘Okay, leave’.

“He got what he wanted. It is good for him. He is a young player, a huge talent otherwise he would not have been here. He is a nice lad and is doing really good.”