Nathan Redmond: Newspaper claims are false, Manchester City's Guardiola didn't call me a 'w****r'
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Updated 30/11/2017 at 20:47 GMT
Southampton winger Nathan Redmond has issued a strongly-worded rebuttal of claims that Pep Guardiola verbally abused him as he left the field following the Saints' 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola, Nathan Redmond (Manchester City vs. FC Southampton)
Image credit: Getty Images
Redmond and Guardiola were seen engaged in deep and energetic conversation, with the City manager gesturing at the player and Redmond concealing his response with his hand covering his mouth.
The Sun newspaper claimed, via an unnamed lip-reader, that Guardiola had called Redmond a "w****er" and accused him of "taking me for a mug".
But 23-year-old Redmond took to social media to refute those claims.
"I've just seen this story and felt I had to say something and clear a few things that are floating around right now," Redmond said.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola, did not say what The Sun is falsely claiming in this story. Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me. He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. I told him I was doing what my manager had asked me to do in the game. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that's what makes him one of the best managers in world football.
"Losing the game the way we did with the last kick of the game after working so hard for 90+ minutes I was very disappointed, but when one of the worlds best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.
"Sadly this story is an example of lazy journalism and is a complete joke. It does no favours to the sports journalists in the game that I like, happily work with and genuinely respect.
"The focus for me now is regrouping with the Saints ready for a big performance this Sunday in the game against Bournemouth."
The confrontation came moments after Raheem Sterling's 96th-minute goal had denied the Saints a hard-earned point, with the nature of the discussion appearing to be critical. But Guardiola explained after the match what he'd said to Redmond.
"(I told him) how good a player he is," Guardiola said. "Last season he destroyed us here. I didn't know him last season, I realised how good he is.
"Southampton have some super-talented players, Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.
"Today he could not attack because they defend all the time, but that is what it is. I spoke with Oriol Romeu as well, with (Virgil) van Dijk and with my players as well."
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