Manchester City Transfer News: Pep Guardiola on Alexis Sanchez, Latest Rumours

Pep Guardiola has refused to talk about making another bid to sign Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, but did admit he will look to "shake" his Manchester City squad next summer.

City pursued Sanchez heavily in the summer, but Guardiola wouldn't be drawn on whether he would renew the chase for Arsenal's star player. Speaking ahead of this Sunday's home match against the Gunners in the Premier League, Guardiola played down his interest in the Chile international, per Press Association Sport (h/t Eurosport.co.uk):

"The transfer window is closed, so it's not time to talk about that.

"You know my opinion on the players I have, (and) Alexis - you know my opinion, but he's an Arsenal player. It's not correct to talk about that, especially before we play them.

"He is such an important player for them, for the talent he has. We have to try to control him. Let's just focus on that."

Guardiola was also asked if he will look to recruit another attacking player in the future. He made it clear additions will be a priority for City next summer: "I think next season we have to shake the team again a little. Not in terms like this season, where it was a lot because the average age was 28 or 29. Now we are a young team. But we'll buy players, we'll try to analyse well and buy the right players like we did last season and this season."

City are far from short of quality in attacking areas, however. Guardiola's free-scoring squad tops the Premier League by five points, nine ahead of Sanchez's fifth-placed Arsenal.

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City have scored 35 goals, easily the most in England's top flight after 10 matches. The goals have come in bunches thanks to a deep, talented and versatile forward line.

Prolific strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus headline the group. Meanwhile, wide forwards Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling are offering exceptional support.

The form of Sane and Sterling has to cast a doubt over any potential move for Sanchez, who operates most often on the left flank. Sane has been making the same role his own with City this season, scoring six goals and providing five assists in the league, per WhoScored.com.

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Sterling has been even better. The former Liverpool winger has found the net 10 times, scoring a goal every 72 minutes, per BBC Sport. Improvement in his positioning has led to better form in front of goal, per the same source: "Sterling has already had 18 shots inside the penalty area this season, compared to 43 across 33 league games last season."

Sterling was reportedly offered to the Gunners, along with a £20 million fee, for Sanchez in the summer, per Paul Hirst of The Times. City also offered "£55 million, plus £5 million [in] add-ons" for Sanchez on deadline day of the summer transfer window, per BBC Sport's David Ornstein.

Since then, Sanchez's contract situation hasn't been resolved. He is out of contract with Arsenal in 2018, meaning he can leave the north London club for free next summer.

Knowing the Gunners may want to cash in before that happens, City are said to be planning a bid worth £20 million in January, according to Dave Fraser of The Sun. However, The Sun's Daniel Cutts wrote an exclusive explaining how Arsenal will demand £30 million if they are going to let Sanchez go in January.

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Yet the issue of a potential fee in January will be moot if Guardiola sticks to his plan of waiting until next summer to reinforce his forward options. Even so, the question will remain whether the City boss even needs the attacker he worked with at Barcelona in 2011 or if the Manchester club would be better off addressing other areas in the squad, such as their defence.