Pep Guardiola has said that he will not risk upsetting the Manchester City dressing room by shattering the club’s wage structure after they missed out signing Frenkie de Jong.
City pursued the 21-year-old Dutch midfielder before he signed with Barcelona this week, in a transfer from Ajax that could cost as much as £75 million. De Jong’s personal wage demands eventually forced Guardiola, City’s manager, to pull out of competing with Barcelona, his former club and first managerial position.
De Jong is understood to have been seeking a contract worth well in excess of £300,000 a week, which would have made him City’s highest earner. The prospect of disruption in the dressing room — where the Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is the top
