Pep Guardiola, manager of reigning Premier League champions Manchester City, admitted that the club needs to sign more players, especially after Kevin De Bruyne's injury, but won't overpay for any transfers.

City began the 2023-24 Premier League season with a 3-0 win over Burnley on August 11. However, their offensive engine De Bruyne suffered a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury in that game. He will be sidelined until the New Year after undergoing a surgery.

"We are talking a lot with [director of football] Txiki [Begiristain] about what we have to do; maybe we need to add someone else," Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday. "My opinion is I like a small squad. But the blow from Kevin changes the perspective. He is a very important player, and it is not one or two weeks. It's four or five months. So we have to reflect a bit on the squad and think about what we have to do."

After a historic treble-winning season, City lost multiple players this summer, including Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy. De Bruyne's injury comes as a fresh blow to the league title holders.

City spent 119.1 million euros (about $129.7 million) acquiring Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig this summer. They were already big investments for any club, but not so much considering City's deep pocket, and they paled in comparison with the lucrative purchases done by their Premier League competitors Chelsea and Manchester United.

Chelsea continued to "burn' money after two ridiculous shopping transfer windows last season. So far, the club has spent 385.1 million euros (about $419.4 million) signing a series of players, including Moises Caicedo and Momeo Lavia. United also paid 191.8 million euros (about $208.9 million) to land Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount and Andre Onana.

"We have to see what happens in the market and if we can do it and to pay what we believe is fair," Guardiola said. "We wanted [Harry] Maguire and didn't buy him because we didn't want to pay; we wanted [Marc] Cucurella and didn't pay; we wanted Alexis Sanchez and didn't pay. In the end, we will pay what is fair to do it. Otherwise, we have the academy."

"For Chelsea, it's easier than us, for sure. I couldn't sit here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the last two transfer windows; you would kill me. You will kill me, that is for sure. We'd be under scrutiny like you couldn't imagine. They can do what they want. I don't criticize Chelsea for one second. I'm saying if we do it, we are dead, all around the world. They can do whatever they want," he added.