The Argentina youth international, who arrived from Velez Sarsfield in January, was introduced in 72nd minute with Guardiola’s team already 4-0 up at the Vitality Stadium.
The composed left-footed midfielder made a neat start to life in the Premier League, completing 18 of his 20 attempted passes in the final 18 minutes of the victory.
Perrone’s first City interview | Learning from Pep
While Guardiola told media that the Argentine is not expected to start against Bristol City on Tuesday, he did spell out the 20-year-old’s talents.
“He arrived from our scout, Joan Patsy in South America. He always advises me on Gabriel [Jesus], Julian [Alvarez], now for Maximo,” the boss began.
“He’s a guy who’s quicker here [in his head] than the legs. He moves really well in the pockets, he has a lot of vision there.
“Since the first or second training session after he arrived I had some clips and information, but honestly, I didn’t know him and the players didn’t know him. We thought ‘wow he moves well’, his individual quality is really there.
“I think he’ll grow being with us from the rhythm, from the physicality. Sometimes we’re looking for players to play in the position in the smaller spaces. It’s good, really really good.”
Having only made his professional debut in March of last year, Perrone is still adjusting to the demands of adult football. He featured on 33 occasions for boyhood club Velez before making the move to Manchester.
Guardiola has reiterated that the midfielder will be part of his squad for the final months of 2022/23 but that his situation beyond this season is not yet certain.
“He’s a guy who is very impressive and is doing well so far. But what’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know. I cannot ensure what’s going to happen,” Guardiola stated.
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“I learned from my years, I don’t anticipate what’s going to happen in terms of how many players stay, how many players are going to leave, how we be active in the transfer market. But we are really pleased with the quality he has.”
One central midfielder pivotal to Guardiola’s plans this season is Rodrigo.
The Spaniard has featured in 36 of our 38 games so far this season, missing just one Premier League and one Champions League tie.
Our manager has admitted that his trust of the No.16 has made it difficult to rest him.
“A lot of games I would love to replace him, but the game was not over,” he said.
“Rodri understands everything we have done, we’re trying to do in that position. It’s not easy to play as a holding midfielder with us. It’s not just running around, it’s just to understand many things that are going to happen.
“There are many things happen in the position. Sometimes it’s not easy. When he arrived he struggled a little to understand what we were looking for and why it’s important. But, of course he has to rest otherwise he won’t perform well in the future.”
Bristol City v City
City travel to Bristol City for a 20:00 (UK) kick-off and you can follow the game across mancity.com and our official app.
We will start live updates at 18:00 on our Matchday Centre and that will run throughout the evening.
Our Matchday Live programme will begin shortly before team news arrives at 16:30. Natalie Pike will be in the studio with Nedum Onuoha, Esme Morgan, Shaun Goater to give you a City-centric view on events at Ashton Gate.
During the game, Alistair Mann and Michael Brown will talk you through proceedings with our radio commentary offering.
Afterwards, we will bring you all the reaction before highlights are available from midday on Wednesday.
CITY+ subscribers can watch the entire 90 minutes back from midday on Wednesday too.
