Pep Guardiola says he would never prevent a player who wants to leave Manchester City from joining a Premier League rival because that would be the mindset of a “small club”.
The Spaniard will come up against two of his former charges on Sunday when City play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Raheem Sterling left the Etihad Stadium for west London in 2022 and was joined a year later by Cole Palmer for an initial £40m fee, as both searched for more time on the pitch. The latter is set to make his first appearance against the club he supported as a boy and joined aged eight, before progressing all the way to the first team.
