Manchester City are not expecting to sign Martin Zubimendi or Bruno Guimaraes in the January transfer window.

The Blues have the money to spend this winter and are under pressure to turn around an awful run of form that has seen them win just one of their last 11 matches in all competitions ahead of Saturday's trip to Aston Villa. Pep Guardiola has signed a new contract and remains committed to the club until 2027, but is undergoing the worst spell of his coaching career with an injury crisis that shows no sign of ending.

City's coach has admitted that a bigger squad may have been needed this season, and with Rodri sidelined for the season and a carousel of injuries to all of their centre-backs there has been no protection for a team that has shipped goals at an alarming rate. Guardiola has hinted at the need for investing as soon as January but spoke on Friday about the difficulties of signing a top player next month and City sources do not expect to sign either Newcastle's Guimaraes or Real Sociedad's Zubimendi.

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"It is not easy to do that. Teams don’t sell, maybe it has to be players who don’t play. They don’t want to sell and they are so expensive," Guardiola said of the January window.

"It depends on the market and we’ll see. It’s simple: get players back. Except Rodri. We have the squad there and after that maybe we’ll have the team that we were. We were not able to solve it.

"We’ve spoken about doing something and if it’s in winter it’s if we can really we need it or if we can really find something. Not for just four or five months. In the winter it is more difficult to do. We’ll see.

"I don’t know how many times we’ve got into the winter (market) – maybe just Aymeric Laporte seven years ago. We’re not a big fan of that but the circumstances of this season have been special.

"We have to see if something is possible and if not we will wait until the summer time – how we finish the season, how the players perform, knowing we’ve got short holidays. We’ll talk and see what is possible in the market."