Savinho ‘close’ to signing new Manchester City deal, says boss Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City have been clear in their desire to keep Savinho with the Brazil winger close to signing a new contract at the Etihad Stadium.

Savinho was the subject of strong interest from Tottenham last month but talk of a £69million move to north London ultimately came to nothing, and the 21-year-old is now expected to sign a new deal committing himself to City until 2031.

“We were so clear that we want to keep him,” Guardiola said after Savinho started in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Burnley, days after getting his first goal of the season in the Carabao Cup win over Huddersfield.

“It depends on the offer (from Tottenham). Maybe the offer was not good enough for the club, I don’t know.

“But of course, at his age, last season he played a lot of minutes. He can play on both sides, right and left, has pace that is unbelievable. So in that term, he’s really good.”

Savinho is in line to follow a number of Guardiola’s squad in signing fresh terms. Nico O’Reilly was the latest player to sign a new contract on Friday, coming after new deals for Ruben Dias and Rico Lewis in recent weeks.

“It’s happened with Rico, Nico…Savinho is close, and in the past, Ruben has done it as well,” Guardiola said.

“So we’ll try to be sure to show a player that we want him. Do the effort that we need to stay a bit longer. So I’m really pleased.

“Nico is growing a lot. I think since he started to play, we lost just one game. The final FA Cup against Palace.

“When he’s not been involved it was defeats all the time. So Nico helped us a lot, improved a lot in his aggressivity and set pieces and with the ball. We’re really, really pleased.”

City’s final margin of victory on Saturday belied what was a tough battle for much of the afternoon, with Jaidon Anthony having brought Burnley level after an early own goal from Maxime Esteve.

Two goals in four minutes – one from Matheus Nunes and then a second own goal from Esteve – put City in control after the hour mark before Erling Haaland added gloss to the scoreline with a late brace.

Rodri was absent from the matchday squad and after the game Guardiola admitted the Spain midfielder is a significant doubt for Wednesday’s Champions League match away to Monaco due to pain in his right knee – the same knee in which he tore his anterior cruciate ligament to miss most of last season.

Rodri has made five appearances for City this season, completing the full 90 minutes twice.

“Rodri was training (on Friday) and said, ‘I’m not able to play. I have a lot of pain in my knee. I cannot play, I cannot play’,” Guardiola said. “And I said, ‘If you cannot play, you cannot play’.”