Pep Guardiola bans out of shape Mancester City stars from training

MANCHESTER CITY boss Pep Guardiola has banned some of his stars from training sessions for being too fat.

By Tim Gray in Shenzen

Ruthless Guardiola reckons some of his pampered players have piled on the pounds and has ordered them to shape up.

Guardiola has also banned sugary drinks, pizza and other high-fat foods to get tough on his millionaire stars and make sure they are fighting fit ahead of the new season.

Full-back Gael Clichy said: “On the field, off the field, every detail counts.

YOU'RE BARRED: Guardiola takes fitness very seriously

“For example, you often hear managers say being healthy is really important. But with him, if you’re weight is too high, you’re not training with the team.

“That is the first thing. You can hear it a lot, but for my part it’s the first time any manager has really done it.

“So we have a few players who are not training with the team yet. We play football and it’s a job and you have to take responsibility for what you do on the field.

“Of course you have quality, but you have to know that if your weight is 60 kilos and you are on 70 kilos then you cannot play football because you’re going to get injured and get your team in trouble. That’s important.

“He has cut out some juice and, of course pizza, and all the heavy food is not allowed. Some people might think that’s normal, it should be like this, but in truth it’s not always like this - and I know because I’ve been playing football for a long time.

“It’s really refreshing and very exciting. You don’t have success without being focused on details.”

Ex-Arsenal star Clichy reckons the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss will revolutionise the club - just like Arsene Wenger did with the Gunners.

He added: “I’ve been lucky because I’ve trained only a few weeks with Guardiola and I was eight years with Wenger. There are a lot of similarities between the two.

“It’s a step forward. Wenger, years ago, brought something back into English football from where ever he had been and changed the way people saw football.

“I guess the two of them are just great managers. Every manager has their own philosophy and for sure he’s coming with his own ideas and it’s quite refreshing for us.”