Monday 26 December 2016 16:25, UK
Pep Guardiola has denied Manchester City are going to make a bid to sign Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk in January.
Dutch centre-back Van Dijk - in outstanding form for Saints this season - has been linked with a £50m move to the Etihad Stadium in the January transfer window.
Van Dijk's team-mates had some fun at his expense - as shown on Jose Fonte's Instagram account - his Secret Santa gift was a City shirt.
It has also been claimed Chelsea and Manchester United are interested in the highly-rated 25-year-old, who joined Saints from Celtic last year, and a bidding war could ensue.
But City manager Guardiola insists Van Dijk is not a player he wants now, and in any case does not think Southampton would sell to a rival mid-season.
"Next month, Van Dijk here?" said Guardiola, when asked about the player.
"We're going to Southampton to play against them (in April). He's not going to come here next month. Impossible."
When asked why, Guardiola said: "Because he's a Southampton player and we don't want him now."
Guardiola claims he has little need to sign players in January, although he has not ruled out the possibility completely.
He said: "If you ask me today - no. But maybe next week we're going to change and realise we need something special in one position to have one more player in that position, where maybe we do not have too much, especially in the full-backs. But in the other positions we are quite happy."
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