Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City need new signings in January, after a difficult Boxing Day for the champions who had several key players unavailable and were again unable to secure a victory.
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City were held 1-1 by Everton at the Etihad Stadium - where Erling Haaland had a penalty saved for the first time in the Premier League by Jordan Pickford - and they have now gone four matches in the top flight without a win.
Guardiola told the media both before and after the match that his club would have to try bringing in new players when the winter transfer window opens, while acknowledging it can be a difficult time of the year to do so.
"If we can, we have to add players, definitely," Guardiola told Amazon Prime, in his pre-match interview.
"You know we struggle especially in the back, in the middle. Saying that, I don't know what's going to happen.
"The transfer window in winter time is not easy but everybody's aware. I think even the [current] players ask us, 'We are going to want some players please.'"
Pep's pre-match interview
"We have to add players"
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Pep Guardiola on the upcoming January transfer window...#PLonPrime #MCIEVE pic.twitter.com/rO6tlJX5rO
Eight players injured
The Man City boss reiterated this stance in his post-match press conference, as the dust settled on a frustrating draw with Everton, who cancelled out Bernardo Silva's early opener with a first-half strike by Iliman Ndiaye.
"The truth is all season we have a lot [of injuries] and this is a problem," said Guardiola, who had warned on Christmas Eve that his team were at risk of not qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
"It is not to bring in a player for now, it's to bring a player for the next three, four or five years and this is sometimes not easy to do. In the transfer window, winter is not easy.
"But I think we have to try because it's sustained for a long time. It is not just now or this week, but for a long time. Of course, we have to talk with the club and the club will decide."
Guardiola said he had "eight important players injured" while another two, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan, were deemed "not ready for 90 minutes" and only came on as substitutes for the last 15 and five minutes respectively.
"Maybe they should have come on earlier, but the team was playing quite decent," reflected the City manager.
"I always expected Jeremy [Doku] to make the action and Phil [Foden] always has creativity, Bernardo was playing unbelievable again, and Savio has incredible quality. So it was not easy to make these swaps."
City were without Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Jack Grealish, as well as long-term absentees Oscar Bobb and Rodri.
