KOMPANY
Vincent Kompany is set to become the latest high-profile
casualty of Pep Guardiola’s reign after the Manchester City captain was left
out of the squad for the Champions League defeat in Barcelona.
However, City have moved swiftly to ease any fears over Sergio
Aguero’s future at the Etihad after he was only named among the substitutes for
the Group C clash at the Nou Camp.
Guardiola has already marginalised two of City’s
title-winning team, sending Joe Hart on loan to Torino and freezing out Yaya
Toure ahead of an expected departure in January.
It has emerged that Kompany was fit and available to face
Barcelona following a brief comeback against Everton at the weekend, but
Guardiola decided to put teenage defender Pablo Maffeo on the bench instead.
Kompany’s Belgium teammate Kevin De Bruyne confirmed the
decision afterwards, saying: ‘That’s Pep’s choice. He must have had his
reasons.’
Kompany’s exclusion marked another low for the City captain
after two seasons decimated by muscle injuries, and he looks unlikely to stay
beyond the end of the season.
City were in two minds about keeping him this summer and the
30-year-old was injured in his only start under Guardiola in the EFL Cup at
Swansea City last month.
Kompany is understood to have grown increasingly frustrated
and was involved in an angry confrontation with Aleksandar Kolarov in training
before the Manchester derby.
Quoted in the sequel to the book Pep Confidential, published
in Spain on Thursday, Guardiola showed his ruthless streak towards the squad he
inherited in the summer.
He said: ‘If they don’t run or jump then they can go because
there are lots of good kids in the academy and they will do that.’
However, City are adamant that Aguero’s future is secure
despite Guardiola’s puzzling decision to keep his top scorer on the bench until
the 79th minute at the Nou Camp.
Aguero did not warm up beforehand and there is a suggestion
that Guardiola was unhappy with his striker for playing against Paraguay last
week despite picking up a calf injury in the previous game against Peru.
It’s understood that Aguero was unhappy over the decision
but accepted it was tactical.
Guardiola has said on several occasions this season that
Aguero can improve despite scoring 11 goals in 10 appearances for his club.
But City insiders insist that Aguero has already signed a
12-month contract extension tying him to the club until 2020 which is ready to
be confirmed.
Aguero’s Argentina teammate Lionel Messi destroyed City with
a hat-trick on Wednesday night as Barcelona won 4-0 on Guardiola’s return to
the club.
And City chief executive Ferran Soriano declared that City
would jump at the chance to sign Messi if he ever leaves the Nou Camp.
‘Messi is the best player in the world,’ said Soriano. ‘If
one day he wants to come to City, we would open the doors wide for him.’
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