🎧 Pep's new deal will 'calm the water'

Former Manchester City player Paul Lake believes Pep Guardiola will want to put right the challenges he has faced in the past few weeks and his new deal will help "reassure" fans.

Lake - who spent 10 years in the club's senior team - spoke about Guardiola on BBC Radio Manchester's Total Sport: "For the fans, players and squad it's really reassuring, but for a lot of us it settles the nerves. There's a bit of nervousness around the form of late and the fact we haven't overcome missing certain individuals mainly in the midfield areas.

"It calms the water to a degree, however the kind of person Pep is, the legacy he will be leaving Manchester City is probably not where he wants it to be.

"This year facilitates players coming back, new players coming in to the environment and being given the chance to bed into the set up.

"But it also allows Pep to leave in the way he wants to. There are frustrations, and I never thought I'd say it with the incredible squad we've got, that we'd miss one player as much as we have done. I think it's highlighted the fact we need to get different players and build in a different way.

"There's a lot of things that I think Pep will be excited about once he's got the assurances. He's got another season, and there are things that have jumped out over the last few weeks that have been the unknown for Pep - these are challenges he wants to put right."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds