Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has refuted claims that the club have approached his former side, Bayern Munich, over the potential transfer of Holger Badstuber, although the Spaniard does admit that he may need defensive reinforcements, should any of his players pick up injuries in the coming weeks.
Badstuber is understood to be keen on a move away from the Allianz Arena, as he has struggled for playing-time under manager Carlo Ancelotti. The centre-back has had a wretched few years with injury problems and has only recently returned to full-fitness.
Guardiola dismisses Badstuber to City talk https://t.co/X8IcS1HRjr pic.twitter.com/u5dIcNPe5k
City themselves are looking to sort out their own defensive problems, as their Premier League title challenge continues to be hampered by indifferent form and costly mistakes.
When asked whether City had approached Bayern about the possibility of signing Badstuber, Guardiola replied (as quoted byFourFourTwo):"No, in that sense, no. We have to speak with the club about what is the situation, because hopefully Vincent [Kompany] can help us, but Vincent in the last two years was like this [with injuries].
"We have Nico [Otamendi], John [Stones] and [Aleksandar] Kolarov, and Kola is a full-back, and of course we have Tosin [Adarabioyo], and Tosin is still young.
"When we arrive now in the Premier League, in the cup, in the Champions League, if something happens with the injuries then we don't have enough."
Bayern are understood to be happy for Badstuber to be sent out on loan for the remainder of the season and when speaking specifically about a move for the German, Guardiola remained coy about City's chances of signing him during the current transfer window.
He added:"We are evaluating if there's a chance to take one. I know Holger, he's a fantastic player, a fantastic guy, but he's a Bayern Munich player, and we should first of all speak with them and with him.
"Now on the table there are no names because we had a lot of games, but now we have 10 days off, 10 days until Everton, so we have time to discuss with Txiki [Begiristain, City director of football], with the club, what is the best for the rest of the season."