Pep Guardiola says Manchester City had little option to sell four of their academy players to Southampton as he noted how 'patience doesn't exist' among the youth age groups.
City sold Gavin Bazunu, Romeo Lavia, Sam Edozie and Juan Larios for almost £40m combined this summer, with various sell-on clauses and buy-back options attached to the deals. The four players join former City head of academy recruitment Joe Shields, who took up the Saints overall head of recruitment position this summer.
Asked about the four transfers, Guardiola said they represent good business for both the players and the club in the circumstances, but hinted that he would prefer more young players to remain patient at City — even if, as he believes, under-23 football is not competitive enough.
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"All of them are fantastic players. Southampton bought really good players," he said. "We know [Jason] Wilcox and all the people in the academy are so proud. The incredible job they can do it. We rely on them a lot but at the same time they have offers and patience doesn't exist with under-23s and EDS.
"They could stay one to two years. The EDS competition is so light, it's not real competition. They want Premier League, so after agreement with the clubs., we have buy-back in case they explode and we can get them back.
"A big compliment for the club to educate them and bring them to the Premier League. Southampton is an incredible place, the guy there was working here, he knows them really well. We wish them all the best."
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