MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Pep Guardiola said he would rather leave Manchester City than have to work with a bloated squad next season.
The City manager has begun to rebuild his team after the club's first trophyless campaign since 2017.
But he said Tuesday he had told the club that he will walk away rather than oversee an oversized squad.
“I said to the club I don’t want that. I don’t want to leave five or six players in the tribune,” Guardiola said after the 3-1 win against Bournemouth. “I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay. It’s impossible for my soul to give (leave) my players in the tribune, that they cannot play.”
Guardiola left James McAtee, Savinho and Rico Lewis out of his squad for Tuesday's Premier League game. He had to make similarly tough calls for Saturday's FA Cup final loss against Crystal Palace.
He has traditionally liked to work with a smaller squad, but a spate of injuries this season — including knee surgery for Rodri — severely hampered City's title defense, which unraveled by Christmas.
City spent more than $200 million in January to try to salvage the campaign, brining in Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.
Guardiola is expected to make major signings in the offseason, with Kevin De Bruyne leaving as a free agent and Kyle Walker also likely to go, but has made it clear he wants to keep his squad numbers down.
“I don’t want to have 24, 25, 26 players when everyone is fit,” he said. "If I have injuries, unlucky. We have some players for the academy and we do it.
“(We) cannot sustain for the emotion of the club, the soul of the team, create another connection with each other that this season we lost it a bit.”
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda on Wednesday ordered the closure of its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola are surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients.
The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Like Congo, Uganda has faced Ebola outbreaks in the past. A local Ugandan task force made the decision on the border closure. The Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who had crossed the border before the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.
Border crossings will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, cargo or security reasons, Dr. Diana Atwine of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told journalists. Anyone entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory isolation for 21 days.
Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever. The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.
The number of suspected cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.
On Wednesday, Congolese authorities said that the first person who recovered from the Bundibugyo virus has been released home from a treatment center in Rwampara, one of the towns in eastern Congo at the heart of the outbreak.
WHO has discouraged border closures with Congo while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion. The U.N. health agency has declared this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Closures "push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease," the agency said.
The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Many people come and go in the course of a day to visit families or to trade.
Congolese health authorities are struggling to contain the outbreak, which WHO says is outpacing them. The rare type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type. Challenges also include the threat from armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.
WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a ceasefire in eastern Congo to allow safe access for responders and others, saying on social media that “attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”
Responders in Congo have said they are underprepared and under-protected for this outbreak, while conflict-traumatized residents, long wary of outsiders, have attacked a number of clinics and hurled stones and abuse at volunteers trying to make people aware of the virus and its risks.
Infected people or those have been in contact should not undertake international travel unless it’s a medical evacuation, WHO has said. On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States.
Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including the first case of a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala, the country's capital, on May 14. While the Ebola case load is not spiking, the number of locals exposed to infection via health workers has been rising.
“They have families, and so the number has been increasing,” Atwine, the Ugandan health official, said of the health workers.
She also said she was dismayed to see some Ugandans forming crowds to celebrate Arsenal as British Premier League champions. The team has a large following in Uganda. Atwine urged people to be vigilant, avoid shaking hands and use sanitizer.
Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks. Health experts say aid cuts last year by the U.S. and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo, in part because of the region’s unique problems.
Aid groups fighting this outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need, including face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits and body bags needed to safely bury victims.
Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.
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Muslims gather to pray at Sayo Muhamed School during the Eid al-Adha celebration amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Muslims are reflected in a motorcycle mirror as they gather to pray at Sayo Muhamed School during the Eid al-Adha celebration amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A Muslim washes his hands as a precaution against Ebola before attending the Eid al-Adha prayers at Sayo Muhamed School in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A Muslim woman walks towards the prayer grounds at Sayo Muhamed School to perform Eid al-Adha prayers amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
