Manchester City's sporting director Txiki Begiristain has revealed that Pep Guardiola was interested in signing goalkeeper Bernd Leno in 2017.
After a number of high-profile mistakes from Claudio Bravo during his first season, Guardiola entered the transfer market for a replacement, eventually opting to bring in Brazilian stopper Ederson.
However, in a new book called Pep's City: The making of a superteam, Begiristain has claimed that Leno, then at Bayer Leverkusen, was also on the Premier League club's shortlist.
Begiristain said: "They both fitted the bill. One was more expensive to buy, the other required a higher salary. I left it up to the coaches to choose."
Leno spent a further year with Leverkusen before making the switch to Arsenal ahead of the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
Written by
Darren Plant
Darren Plant
