Love for United stops Pique joining Pep's City

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has ruled out any chance of him following Pep Guardiola to Manchester City this summer due to his "love" for United.

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Guardiola will take over at City this summer and there has already been plenty of speculation about which stars the current Bayern Munich coach might try to bring to the Etihad Stadium.

One player who insists he will not be re-joining his former Barcelona boss though is ex-United defender Pique, who admits he wants to play abroad again before the end of his career but has no intention of representing the blue half of Manchester.

The 28-year-old, who spent four years at Old Trafford before becoming a key member of Guardiola's all-conquering Barcelona, said on Periscope: "My love for Manchester United is too great for me to sign for City, even though Pep is a great coach."

That love does not mean he is thinking about one day making a return to United either, but he says he is keen to experience another league at some point.

The Spain international, who scored the winning goal in Barca's 2-1 win over Sevilla on Sunday night, said: "I'm very happy in Barcelona. United are my second club, but my future is at Barca. I'm very proud to play at Barcelona. I think it's the best club in the world.

"I would like to try a different league when I've got a few years to go before retiring. I don't know if it will be Colombia, I'd like that for Shakira, but nobody can predict the future."