Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola fails to rule out a renewed attempt to sign Alexis Sanchez as his side prepare to face Arsenal in the Premier League

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Pep Guardiola has left the door open for a renewed attempt to sign Alexis Sanchez after a £60million deal for the Arsenal star collapsed on deadline day.

The two clubs agreed terms in August only for Arsenal to pull the plug when they failed to sign Monaco's Thomas Lemar as a replacement.

Sanchez, who faces City at the Etihad on Sunday, will be a free agent in the summer but a January move to Pep Guardiola's side is not out of the question.

Pep Guardiola has left the door open for a renewed attempt to sign Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez 

Although Guardiola was reluctant to discuss the Chile international so close to the match, he admitted that he will continue to improve his squad where possible.

'The strikers we have are going to stay next season, hopefully,' he said. 'Add another player? Maybe. We are going to decide that.

'So I think next season we have to shake the team again a little. Not in terms like this season, where it was a lot because the average age was 28 or 29, now we are a young team. 

'But we'll buy players. We'll try to analyse well and buy the right players like we did last season and this season.

'You know my opinion on the players I have. Alexis, you know my opinion but he's an Arsenal player so it's not correct to talk about that, especially before we play them.

The Manchester City boss said City could still reinforce their attack at the end of the season

City have scored 35 goals so far in the league and remain unbeaten in their 10 league games

'The transfer window is closed, so it's not time to talk about that. . I have respect for Arsenal and especially for my own players.

'He (Sanchez) is an Arsenal player, his manager has to speak about him. You know the situation before when the transfer window was open, but now it's closed. Let's not talk about that.

'He is such an important player for them, for the talent he has, and we have to try to control him. Let's just focus on that.'

Guardiola was more comfortable talking about Sanchez's teammate Mesut Ozil, who has come in for criticism in some quarters. 

The Spaniard faced the former Real Madrid star during his time in charge at Barcelona, and accepts that sometimes Ozil's demeanour on the pitch encourages his critics.

'I don't have doubts about him first in terms of quality,' he said. 'I enjoy him and have suffered from him at Madrid and here. 

'Always he gets criticised when the team loses, a big target when they lose. But I admire him.

Guardiola praised the quality of Mesut Ozil ahead of their Premier League clash on Sunday 

'Maybe his body language doesn't help him but sometimes that confuses opinion. I accept your opinions but all players know how tough it is to work out there. 

'I don't have doubts. It's good for the Premier League to have players of this talent, but hopefully on Sunday he can play a bad game.'

Raheem Sterling was the City player linked with Arsenal if Guardiola had been successful in signing Sanchez, but the England winger has taken his game to a new level this season. Sterling's strike in the 4-2 win at Napoli in midweek was his 10th goal of the season.

'I think he's enjoying scoring goals,' added Guardiola. 'He's not scared. He's not afraid to take a risk. And now he's seeing how fun, how good it is to score goals. Now he's more focussed on that.

Raheem Sterling was linked with a switch to Arsenal but has been very impressive this season

'Mikel Arteta (first-team coach) is working many, many hours and days after training specifically about the last action on the pitch – that control in the last moment to make the right movement in the final three or four metres.

'For himself, Raheem has wanted to stay there, to improve, to practise, to shoot at the goalkeepers. It's part of the mentality he needs. He knows a striker has to score goals and he has to do that if he wants to achieve the next step.

'You won't survive in the high level teams in his position if you don't score goals. Now the confidence is there and the club has new players coming in who can score goals

'His final pass still has to improve. He has to do it better but he can still do better. We can't forget he's 22-years-old. We demand a lot with those kind of players. 

'But he is curious and if he will improve he will get it, for sure definitely. He's young and he has time, and we are there to help him.'