Pep Guardiola 'wanted Bernd Leno at Manchester City in 2017'

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.