MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, May 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Pep Guardiola has said he could quit his position as Manchester City manager if he is given too large a squad next season as he can no longer bear to leave out large numbers of fit players from his team.

City will head into the post-season looking to rebuild an ageing squad, with several senior players expected to follow Kevin De Bruyne out of the Etihad after the Belgian played his final home game for the club in Tuesday's 3-1 win over Bournemouth.

This season has seen City's unprecedented run of four successive top-flight English titles come to an end, while their defeat by Crystal Palace in last weekend's FA Cup final meant they will finish without a major trophy for the first time in eight years.

Injuries have hit City hard this season but Guardiola, always in favour of a smaller group of players, insisted: "I said to the club I don't want that (a bigger squad).

"I don't want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don't want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay.

"It's impossible for my soul to (tell) my players in the tribune that they cannot play."

The Spaniard added: "Now it happened to add players immediately. Maybe for three or four months we couldn't select 11 players, we didn't have defenders, it was so difficult. After, people come back but next season it cannot be like that.

"As a manager I cannot train 24 players and every time I select I have to have four, five, six, stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club I don't want that."

Despite the injury problems suffered this season -- notably the lengthy absence of Rodri, who made his first appearance since September as a second-half substitute on Tuesday -- Guardiola said he would rather bolster his squad with academy players.

"If I have injuries, unlucky, we have some players for the academy and we do it," he said.

City needed to win on Tuesday to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in their own hands, and a draw at Fulham on Sunday should now be enough to make sure of a place among European football's elite.

Omar Marmoush opened the scoring with a fine strike and although De Bruyne missed an open goal, Bernardo Silva doubled the lead before half-time.

After City's Mateo Kovacic and Bournemouth's Lewis Cook saw red in quick succession, Nico Gonzalez got a late third for City before Daniel Jebbison's stoppage-time consolation goal.