Pep Guardiola: Leroy Sane did not deserve to start for Manchester City after poor pre-season

Pep Guardiola has revealed that he felt Leroy Sané “did not deserve” to play for Manchester City last month after being unimpressed with the winger’s pre-season.

Sané found the breakthrough for City on Saturday as they trounced the Premier League’s basement club Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Etihad.

Roy Hodgson’s side put up some stiff resistance for the majority of the first half until Sané combined with David Silva to score a delightful goal on the cusp of half-time.

The 21-year-old went on to set up two further goals for Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero in what was only his second league start of the season.

Speaking after City’s victory, Guardiola explained why Sané had not merited a regular place in his side earlier this season, while hailing his display against Palace.

“He didn’t arrive good. He didn’t make a good pre-season, he was not good in those games and he didn’t deserve to play,” he said.

“Now I have five strikers, all of them deserve to play. Gabriel is an amazing player. Bernardo Silva, Rash [Sterling], Leroy [Sané], Sergio [Aguero].

“All of them are going to play, some of them are going to rest. I need them sharp,” he added.

Guardiola was pleased with his side’s overall display in the dominant win but still sees room for improvement, and was frustrated by their failure to break Palace down earlier.

“We start good in the first 5-10 minutes then after that we forgot that the ball should be moved. In the first-half, the ball was in the possession of the players in the feet. That’s not good.

“When this happens, our rhythm is low, but the last 10 minutes of the first-half I thought: ‘Now we got it.’ We moved quicker, with more sense and of course, it helps a lot to score with Leroy.”