Savinho left Pep Guardiola hanging last summer when he was offered the chance to come to Manchester City - and nearly paid the price for it.
The Brazilian sealed a move from fellow City Football Group club Troyes to the Blues for this season in a deal that could reach £30.8m, with City impressed by his performance on loan for Girona. However, it was more stressful than it could have been for the 20-year-old when he decided to be 'crazy' when Guardiola rang up asking him to join.
Telling the manager he needed some time to think about the decision, Savinho then frantically called back again and again to try and express his wish to join the club - but every call went unanswered. Instead, Guardiola kept Savinho waiting and then rang back on his own terms to give a relieved player what he wanted.
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"I was at the Copa America, in the US and my agent told me that Pep wanted to call me," Savinho said. "He calls, he gives me confidence, tells me he wants me in the team.
"And as crazy as I am, as crazy as I think I am to this day, I told my family that if he were to call me again, I’d never repeat what I did. I told him 'Coach, I already have an answer, but I need to think it over again and I’ll get back to you.' And he went, “Fine, I’m on holiday as well, no problem, have a think about it.'
"I though to myself: 'God, it’s Manchester City.' I left my room, went to dinner with the Brazil team and started asking questions to Marquinhos, Danilo, the experienced players.
"Danilo had even played here, so I asked him 'It’s Manchester City, should I stay or should I go?' Danilo goes, 'You’re kidding me aren’t you? Manchester City is the top. You’re going to reach the top. At aged 19.' After that I went back to my room and said to myself 'I want to call Guardiola, I’ve made my decision.'
"I told my agent and he called me again. But my agent doesn’t know this, when I said I was crazy to tell Pep that I was going to mull it over after he took time out from his holidays to call to say he wanted me.
"At that very moment, I got on the phone and started calling Guardiola. At that very moment, I was calling him non-stop and he didn’t answer. The next day, I told my agent I wanted to go. Then, Pep called me and I said 'I do want to sign.'"
