Pep Guardiola has shared his desire for Savinho to stay at Manchester City despite reports linking the Brazilian to Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
City open their campaign on Saturday against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux but Savinho, who joined the club from Girona last summer, will miss the fixture through injury, according to Guardiola.
“Savinho is injured from Palermo. He will be out for a few weeks,” the Catalan admitted while also talking about Ederson’s rumoured departure from the club.
He added: “Ederson didn't come to me and say he wanted to leave or he has an offer. All the players here are our players and I want them. What's going to happen in three weeks, nobody knows."
Savinho in particular has been linked with a move away to Spurs, who are desperate for attacking reinforcements after James Maddison suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season, while Heung min-Son departed for LAFC recently.
All that Guardiola is concerned about, however, is that the desire of his players remains despite links elsewhere, and described desire as being “above everything.”
“Whether it's Tottenham in that case or any other club, a player should call the club,” Guardiola said. “I am only concerned right now that Savinho will be with us for the rest of the season and hopefully many years because at 21 with the potential he has he has to improve in final positions but he is an extraordinary player.”
"Otherwise, he would not have played more than 3,000 minutes last season. At the end, as always, the desire of the players is above everything but then they have to find an agreement with the club.
"If they don't reach an agreement, the player will be here because the club spends money on those players."
If Savinho and Ederson do leave City, it won’t be the first time this summer where Guardiola’s side have lost some numbers after Jack Grealish departed on loan to fellow northwest side Everton, with James McAtee also leaving for Nottingham Forest.
Guardiola described McAtee’s situation ahead of City’s first game of the 2025/26 season and gave an update on expected outgoing too.
He said: “Macca had great potential to be with us. He wants more minutes and he believes that if he goes to another place he will have it – and I understand completely.
“We have a little bit (of work to do) but I think many clubs are the same. We should but it is difficult because I love all of them and like all of them. But they know the situation, when players come back there will be four or five at home.”