Pep Guardiola says Manchester City’s young players need to impress him to get their chance in the first team.
City will play six games in the next 19 days and without Guardiola unable to select captain Vincent Kompany — as well as long-term absentees Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus — for the FA Cup fifth round replay with Huddersfield he is considering rotating his squad for the demanding fixture schedule.
But he says it is difficult to give too many youngsters an opportunity as he wants to win the trophy as well as challenge in the Champions League and Premier League.
“We are in the moment where we had a few tough injuries like Gundogan and Jesus but the others we had not too many injured. It is not easy — we are in the middle of the Champions League, it is so complicated and every season will be more and more complicated,” he told a news conference.
“Now we play every game for a fight so you miss two games in the Premier League, you will be in fifth or sixth position, you miss two in the Champions League you are out.
“But I am not scared to put the people on the pitch but they have to convince me in every single training session and every game that I can trust them.”
Youngsters such as Tosin Adarabioyo, Aleix Garcia and Brahim Diaz have all featured for the first team while Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho have been highly impressive for the youth team.
Guardiola is aware of their quality and says they may get a better opportunity to impress on the club’s summer tour.
“I saw in the past and I am pretty sure there are four of five guys who are coming to the next summer camp in the [United] States but it depends on them,” he said.
“People think it depends on the manager but it depends on them, we can only give you the hands to play.
“There are four or five guys, maybe more, who we believe have enough talent to help us in the future and we will be delighted but it depends on them and their quality.”
Guardiola says he hasn’t been made up his mind, who will be his goalkeeper for the clash against Huddersfield despite Willy Caballero appearing to leapfrog Claudio Bravo as his first choice.
“I have to think about it, not just with our goalkeepers,” he added. “Tomorrow is a final against one team who impressed a lot when we played there.
“They are at the top of the Championship and sometimes teams top of the Championship are stronger than some of the Premier League teams.
“It’s one game and I know how many surprises there have been in the cup so I have to think about it.”
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