Pep Guardiola revealed Sergio Gomez will compete for a place in Manchester City's first team as he confirmed reports the Premier League champions are set to sign the young left-back.
City have reportedly agreed an £11million (€13m) deal to sign the 21-year-old Anderlecht player, having missed out on Marc Cucurella to Chelsea earlier this month.
Guardiola has been chasing another left-back to compete with Joao Cancelo since Oleksandr Zinchenko departed for Arsenal, with Atletico Madrid's Renan Lodi and Wolves' Rayan Ait-Nouri also touted as potential targets.
Although some have suggested Gomez represents a development project, with a loan move to Girona mooted, Guardiola is confident in his ability to contribute immediately.
"You know the club is always working on many possibilities and chances in all positions, and this one target is a young player," Guardiola said ahead of City's Premier League fixture against Bournemouth on Saturday.
"In the [2017 Under-17] World Cup years ago, the best player was Phil Foden, and he was the second-best player in this tournament, then he played for Spain's under-21s.
"He was a young talented player from the academy in Barcelona, he went to [Borussia] Dortmund and didn't get many minutes, and the last year he played in the good hands of Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht and played really well.
"We targeted him and could bring him here."
Asked whether Gomez was one for the future, Guardiola responded: "No, for now, he's going to stay with us and will be alongside Joao, for left-back."
Full-backs have a vital role in Guardiola's team, with the ability of Cancelo to drift into the middle of the midfield seen as key.
Playing in this way, Cancelo laid on seven Premier League assists in 2021-22 – a tally only beaten by Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne (both eight) among City players – and created 36 chances from open play.
He also topped the club's charts for passes ending in the final third (1,112 – over 300 more than second-placed Bernardo Silva's 769) .
Cancelo and Kyle Walker each impressed as City enjoyed over 75 per cent of the possession in a routine win at West Ham last Sunday, and Guardiola highlighted the way his full-backs must adapt against different opponents.
"It's not the first time I've done it; for many years, I've done it," he added.
"Last season, with a proper striker with Gabriel or Raz [Raheem Sterling] playing that, or with a false nine, we played it, too.
"And in many games, we didn't play it, and many games this season we are not going to play. It depends on the qualities of opponents, especially the shape of how they defend.
"The way we attack depends on how they defend. It's different to attack a four or five at the back, to see how the wingers behave, to defend narrow or wide – this affects your attack.
"You have to adapt. Since, I would say, at Bayern Munich, especially in the second season, I always used it many, many times."
Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville
Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.
United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.
Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.
Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.
"It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.
"That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.
"I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.
"It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."
Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.
However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).
While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag's future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.
"The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won't want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games," Neville added.
"They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.
"Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.
"If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure.
"The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job."
Real Sociedad 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Sucic stunner salvages point for hosts
Luka Sucic scored a stunning late equaliser to ensure Real Sociedad held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 home draw in LaLiga on Sunday.
Atletico had taken an early lead, Antoine Griezmann bringing down a lofted ball before setting up Julian Alvarez with a delightful backheel, and the Argentine scored after just 51 seconds.
Jan Oblak then made a string of fine saves, including a double stop against Martin Zubimendi and Nayef Aguerd, as the hosts dominated possession.
Eventually La Real's pressure paid off and there was nothing the goalkeeper could do as Sucic's superb first-time shot from distance sailed over him and into the top corner in the 84th minute.
Atletico moved one place up to third on 17 points, four points behind second-placed Real Madrid and seven off leaders Barcelona. Sociedad are 15th with nine points.
Data Debrief: Quick off the mark
To salvage a point against Real Madrid last weekend, Atletico left it late, not scoring until the 95th minute to claim a point.
This time out, however, Alvarez scored the club's fifth-fastest goal in LaLiga in the 21st century (51 seconds), and the fastest since February 2018 when Griezmann netted in 38 seconds against Malaga.
Instead, it was La Real who left it late, with just their seventh goal of the season. It is their worst scoring record at this stage of a LaLiga campaign since 2006-07 (five), the campaign of their last relegation to the second division.
Nice 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Mendes rescues points to keep visitors unbeaten
Paris-Saint-Germain missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, with Nuno Mendes saving a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday.
Nice started brightly and caused havoc as PSG struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages. Ali Al-Abdi soon took advantage of their visitors' lacklustre start, opening the scoring six minutes before half-time with a powerful strike from a corner.
Ousmane Dembele, who was dropped in midweek for the Champions League, orchestrated their equaliser, picking out Mendes, whose deflected shot beat the keeper to hit the back of the net seven minutes after the break.
They almost had a second moments later, Marquinhos rising high to meet Lee Kang-in's cross, only to see his powerful header rebound off the post.
Nice held firm despite the late pressure from PSG as goalkeeper Marcin Bulka kept out good efforts by Vitinha and Dembele.
It leaves PSG two points behind leaders Monaco heading into the international break.
Data Debrief: PSG's total dominance does not come to fruition
It has been a fairly disappointing week for PSG, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League, and failed to re-close the gap to Monaco at the top of the league by dropping points.
They had 19 shots against Nice, with 14 of those coming in a dominant second half. Seven of those after the break were on target, while Gianluigi Donnarumma did not face a single effort at the other end.
However, they only managed 0.97 expected goals (xG) - Mendes' goal came from a strike worth just 0.05 - and they could not find a late winner despite their best efforts.
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