Manchester City's newest defensive signing Benjamin Mendy has said he is "excited" to make his home debut for The Citizens ahead of Saturday's clash with Liverpool.
A huge game
Mendy was one of City's several major signings in the summer, with the club breaking the world-record for a defender to bring in the Frenchman from AS Monaco.
Injury meant that Mendy couldn't make his debut until just before the international break, when he started the 2-1 win over Bournemouth.
Mendy is expected to start again on Saturday as City welcome Jürgen Klopp's side to Eastlands, and Mendy stated that he is "looking forward" to playing in front of a home crowd in England for the first time.
"City is a club that I liked a lot," Mendy told City's official website. "When I saw the draw, I thought it was the perfect opportunity."
"After, when I arrived here for the first leg I saw the Etihad Stadium and it is magnificent!" the world-record defensive signing said, re-calling Monaco's Champions League clash with City last term.
The full-back continued: "I knew I had to give my best and show what I could do in order to have a chance of coming here and becoming a City player."
"Liverpool at home, it's a huge game," the-23-year-old said. "I’m excited and really looking forward to play my first home match."
"Whether it is Liverpool or whoever, I will prepare myself for the game in the same way," Mendy added.
Didn't want to do the swap deal
One big absentee for City on Saturday's lunchtime kick-off will be former Red Raheem Sterling, who started the season well with two goals in the last two games although he was sent off after scoring the late winner in the victory over Bournemouth.
The end of the transfer window reportedly nearly saw Sterling exit the Etihad Stadium, with it said that he could be a part of a swap deal with Arsenal's Alexis Sánchez.
However such a deal never went through, and manager Pep Guardiola stated there was "no chance" of Sterling leaving in a part-swap deal the Chilean.
"No, it is simple," Guardiola told his pre-match press conference. "When we started to speak with Arsenal in the last days before it was not impossible, they wanted to make a swap with Raz."
"And they talked to me and I said ‘no chance, ‘zero chance, not one per cent chance’ to take a swap deal with Alexis because I have a lot of trust in Raz," he revealed.
The Catalan declared: "He is 22 years old, an English player and he has a lot of scope to improve."