Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that he wants to keep 19-year old midfielder Brahim Diaz at the club. Diaz scored a brace yesterday as Manchester City defeated Fulham to advance to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. Those goals were Diaz’s first two goals for Manchester City.
Diaz joined Manchester City’s youth setup in 2013 and played there for three years before joining the senior team. In two years, Diaz has started only thrice for the club. Due to his limited game time, there were claims that he would leave the club.
Following the match, when asked about Diaz’s future at City, Guardiola said, “Playing in the top teams is not easy for young players, but he showed his qualities again. His training is always incredible and he’s really appreciated by all of us. He played well against Oxford [United] in the previous round. Everyone here is ready to play in the first team, otherwise he wouldn’t be here.
He knows we want him, but after that it’s down to his agent and himself. We will do absolutely everything to keep him with us – afterwards he decides. We want him, but at the end it doesn’t depend on us.”
Guarrdiola also praised his team’s performance against Fulham. He said, “Everybody was good. Brahim made two goals, Aro [Muric] making a clean sheet – we didn’t concede too many chances, and he gave us good security. Every time Phil Foden plays a good level. It was another good performance. They played with a lot of discipline with and without the ball. We attacked both inside and outside. We could’ve scored more goals but it’s OK.”
In the quarter-finals, City will face either Leicester City or Southampton. The match between Leicester City and Southampton will take place on the 27th of this month.
