Cheeky Mourinho reignites Guardiola feud with bizarre swipe at two Man City transfers
Jose Mourinho has highlighted a failed Manchester City transfer when reigniting his feud with Pep Guardiola, with the luckless Kalvin Phillips once again catching strays.
Mourinho and Guardiola are undoubtedly two of the greatest managers the game has seen since the turn of the century and perhaps of all time. The pair have won 19 league titles between them as well as five Champions Leagues.
Mourinho and Guardiola’s rivalry was at its peak when the pair managed Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. That period of time in Spanish football also coincided with some of the peak years of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The two managers have never enjoyed the friendliest of relationships and Roma boss Mourinho has reignited the rivalry out of the blue.
In quotes carried by X account Transfer News Live, Mourinho took a cheeky swipe at his old adversary when running the rule over Man City’s spending power.
Mourinho was keen to highlight the notion Man City can spend big on players who don’t work out and not suffer as a result.
Indeed, it is fair to say an expensive flop isn’t the end of the world for City who can simply splash out on a replacement soon after.
Kalvin Phillips – a £45m signing from Leeds United in 2022 – was specifically namechecked by Mourinho.
Bizarrely, the Portuguese claimed Man City paid €80m (approx. £68.9m) for the midfielder whose career has stalled since moving to the Etihad.
That figure is simply not accurate, with Phillips’ transfer fee widely reported to be £45m including potential add-ons.
Nonetheless, Mourinho pointed to the speculation Phillips will be let go by Man City in January when taking a swipe at Pep.
“Not that I’m jealous, but Man City paid €80m for Kalvin Phillips and now Pep has said it would be better for him to leave in January,” said Mourinho. “So he’ll leave and they’ll get someone else.
“Our reality [at Roma] is very different. We’d like one, two, three or four new players… however, it’s not easy for us to do that. If we bring in a defender in January, I’ll already be happy.
“But if you ask me if I’d like more than that, of course I’d like more. But it’s not possible.”
Phillips in the firing line again; Man City line up £80m upgrade
Back on December 8 Guardiola publicly admitted he struggles to see where Phillips fits into his side.
”I don’t know what will happen to Kalvin Phillips,” said Guardiola. “He has good character, I’m so sorry I have not picked him.
“I visualise my team and select a team and I struggle to see him.”
Phillips is expected to leave City via the loan route next month. Juventus hold an interest, while TEAMtalk has confirmed Newcastle have already opened talks.
In the event Phillips leaves outright next summer, Man City may reignite their interest in West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta as his high calibre replacement.
An £80m transfer was agreed in principle between West Ham and Man City regarding Paqueta in the off-season. The move fell through when the FA opened a probe into betting irregularities involving the Brazilian.
However, Man City have been tipped to revive their aborted move next summer and it is City’s ability to replace failed signings with even more expensive upgrades that has seemingly got Mourinho’s goat.
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