@Akiva
I: We've qualified 7 times in a row for the Champions League and yet in that last 3 seasons we haven't really come close to winning the Premier League. Is that a big sense of disappoint? We don't want to be a team where 4th place is the ambition...
K. Absolutely not. There is nothing that annoyed me more than people calling me or sending me messages congratulating me on 3rd place and my answer was pretty clear to everyone, don't congratulate me on 3rd place, only congratulate me if we win the league. So, you know this is not the ambition, not at all, there is nothing to celebrate. It is something that is important, critical, it requires a lot of hard work, particularly in this league to be in the top 4 but our ambition is to win and if not winning then to go as close as possible to winning it. I think this year in that area we didn't do that.
I: So is the remedy tweaking this summer or is it wholesale change, or is it something between the two?
K: I think the transition of this squad in this cycle has started last year and if you look at the players we brought in last year, we brought in youth, talent and speed and it's an indicator of how we're rebuilding this team. Leroy Sane, the right age, the right talent, one of the most exciting talents in Europe and he has shown it this year. John Stones, 22, is going to be one of the best centre halves in the world I have no doubt about that, top, top player. Gabriel Jesus, 19, one of the top future talents in the world, so if you're looking at these 3 examples, that's what we did last year and that's what you should expect this year. We are going to go and get some of the best talent in the world, to be part of this strategy that we have been pursuing, this cycle started last summer and this summer you should expect the same.
more transcript to follow...
I: We've qualified 7 times in a row for the Champions League and yet in that last 3 seasons we haven't really come close to winning the Premier League. Is that a big sense of disappoint? We don't want to be a team where 4th place is the ambition...
K. Absolutely not. There is nothing that annoyed me more than people calling me or sending me messages congratulating me on 3rd place and my answer was pretty clear to everyone, don't congratulate me on 3rd place, only congratulate me if we win the league. So, you know this is not the ambition, not at all, there is nothing to celebrate. It is something that is important, critical, it requires a lot of hard work, particularly in this league to be in the top 4 but our ambition is to win and if not winning then to go as close as possible to winning it. I think this year in that area we didn't do that.
I: So is the remedy tweaking this summer or is it wholesale change, or is it something between the two?
K: I think the transition of this squad in this cycle has started last year and if you look at the players we brought in last year, we brought in youth, talent and speed and it's an indicator of how we're rebuilding this team. Leroy Sane, the right age, the right talent, one of the most exciting talents in Europe and he has shown it this year. John Stones, 22, is going to be one of the best centre halves in the world I have no doubt about that, top, top player. Gabriel Jesus, 19, one of the top future talents in the world, so if you're looking at these 3 examples, that's what we did last year and that's what you should expect this year. We are going to go and get some of the best talent in the world, to be part of this strategy that we have been pursuing, this cycle started last summer and this summer you should expect the same.
more transcript to follow...