Pep Guardiola 'requests £50m transfer budget'

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has reportedly requested a relatively-modest transfer budget of £50m this month as he looks to wrap up the Premier League title race in the second half of the campaign.

The Spaniard splashed out £210m bringing in the likes of Ederson, Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva over the summer and his additions have reaped dividends, with City currently sitting 15 points pretty at the top of the Premier League table and still alive in the Champions League, EFL Cup and FA Cup.

According to The Sun, Guardiola will sit down with City chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain this week in order to firm up plans for the transfer window - a meeting in which he is expected to seek £50m in net funds.

City's key target this month is Arsenal attacker Alexis Sanchez, who will be available on a free this summer but could be acquired by the side for a fee of around £25m this month in order to ward off potential approaches from European rivals six months down the line.

The club have also been linked with a £28m bid for Real Sociedad's Inigo Martinez as Guardiola looks to find cover for injured skipper Vincent Kompany.

Guardiola has overseen net spending of more than £280m since he took over at the Etihad in July 2016.