Pep Guardiola claimed this week to be delighted at the ‘failure’ of last season at Manchester City – indicating he will use that to bounce back with major silverware this term.
City finished third in the Premier League after enduring a horror time before Christmas, winning one of 13 matches in all competitions leading to question marks surrounding the squad’s ability to compete with a vibrant Liverpool.
Nine new first-team faces have joined since January, seven of those under the age of 26, but to what extent City truly embark on a new era depends on who leaves the club before September.
Guardiola wants a smaller squad but has 31 players available to train during their first week back, meaning City have a heavy amount of work to do ahead of the transfer window closing.
What have Manchester City done so far?
It was a decisive start to the summer ahead of what ended up being a disappointing Club World Cup campaign. City wanted new faces in the United States, with the expectation that the tournament would act as the bulk of their pre-season.
Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders all arrived in the days before America and integrated into the squad nicely, although City were dumped out of the competition at the last 16 stage by Saudi side Al Hilal.
Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki arrived early in June to bolster Manchester City’s Club World Cup campaign
City’s campaign came to a shuddering end against Saudi side Al Hilal in the last 16 in Orlando
That early exit meant the squad were back in training on Monday following a three-week break, whereas it had been reasonably expected they’d return on August 4. That was the date for City’s restart should they have progressed to the quarter finals or beyond.
The three outfield signings were joined by Marcus Bettinelli from Chelsea, who fills the third-choice goalkeeper spot vacated by the popular Scott Carson and fills a crucial homegrown place.
James Trafford has joined for an initial £27million from Burnley on Tuesday which, after the highly rated 18-year-old Sverre Nypan’s arrival from Rosenborg, takes summer spending to just over £150m.
That makes 2025 a year of significant outlay after parting with £180m in January to sign Oma Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis and Juma Bah, as Guardiola revamps an ageing group of players who failed to live up to their billing last term.
Two of those veterans, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, left for Burnley and Napoli respectively. De Bruyne wasn’t offered a new contract and Walker’s move to Turf Moor is worth up to £5m.
Young midfielder Maximo Perrone made his loan to Como permanent for a cut-price fee of up to £13m, while development signing Bah is now on loan at Nice.
Triggering the matching rights option in Trafford’s Burnley contract is only the second time they’ve re-signed a young player. Can you name the other? The answer is at the bottom of this article. Clue: it came during Guardiola’s tenure after the player had impressed in the Netherlands.
What do they still need to do?
There does feel an obvious gap at right back. Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji and Khusanov have all operated out there – Lewis with the greatest distinction – but Guardiola lacks a senior specialist in that position.
Vitor Reis (left) and Abdukodir Khusanov (centre) were part of a £180m January splurge that kickstarted Pep Guardiola’s plans to revamp the ageing squad
Matheus Nunes rescued his City career with his performances at right back
The future of Nunes was very much up in the air earlier in the year before the Portuguese improved defensively as a right back, with Guardiola publicly talking up his ability in that area.
Lewis considered himself unfortunate to not only see red during City’s opening game of the Club World Cup but then be slapped with a three-match ban and played no further part out in America. City are talking to the academy graduate about a new contract alongside Ruben Dias.
Is there enough budget and PSR headroom left to fill their needs?
The Premier League record revenues of £715m suggest there is no problem with budgets – and that view is only enhanced by the recent signing of a new 10-year deal with Puma worth up to £1billion. Despite the poor Club World Cup, they still earned £37m from qualification and three victories.
There has been a very definite drive to lower an escalating wage bill though, with that reduced by £10m in the last set of accounts after the previous year’s record of £422m.
City want that to go further, with the likes of De Bruyne (£380,000 a week) being replaced by younger stars on incentivised deals with lower base salaries.
That is all while Erling Haaland’s nine-year contract penned in January soars beyond £400,000 a week, of course.
Who are they targeting?
City are suggesting incomings are done, saying that there are no plans to bid for Tino Livramento at Newcastle United and that there are no ongoing talks around a right back.
It should be noted that there have been changes of heart with transfer business over recent months. For instance, the noise initially was that City would prioritise a right back over left back – but then pivoted to Ait-Nouri from Wolves.
All the initial noise this summer suggested City would sign a right back – before they pivoted to snap up Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves
Cherki overtook Morgan Gibbs-White in the pecking order when the expectation from various sources was that City were to do a deal with Nottingham Forest.
Cherki became available at an enticing price and you imagine that were a club or representative offer up a right back at similar value then City would look at it.
And who is heading for the exit?
Well, this is the crux of the summer now. Mail Sport wrote extensively about the muddle of Guardiola’s squad size last month and it undoubtedly requires fixing.
Twenty-seven made the trip to America – a number not including Jack Grealish, James McAtee and the injured Mateo Kovacic. Aside from Guardiola’s continued insistence at operating with a small squad, the numbers don’t work with the regulations for the Champions League.
Basically, if the current crop remained the same, then five non-homegrown stars would miss out on European football for the entire season. So new director of football Hugo Viana’s work is placing youngsters at correct clubs on a temporary basis or earning proper value for established players.
Nypan, represented by Haaland’s agent, is heading out on loan for his development and the talk is he should be followed by January arrivals Reis and Claudio Echeverri.
Lyon have hoped to land a City youngster, while sister club Girona are also an obvious destination. Echeverri is not expecting to head to Roma, having been linked with the Argentine who was handed a debut in the FA Cup final defeat by Crystal Palace.
That’s three. Four is Stefan Ortega, with Ederson and Trafford the two going into the campaign as Guardiola’s chosen pairing between the sticks.
Claudio Echeverri is set to head out on loan, having joined from River Plate in January
James McAtee (left), Stefan Ortega (second left) and Ilkay Gundogan (second right) are all candidates to leave City this summer as they trim their squad back
Ortega wants to be a No 1 and has had interest from Premier League sides in the recent past. City want Ederson to stay and only an astronomical offer would alter those plans.
With 31 players at Guardiola’s disposal in recent days, there is a belief that the first weekend of the season, away at Wolves, is going to focus some minds regarding moves and their futures. The friendly at Palermo a week on Saturday will also provide an indication.
McAtee is hot property. Forest have seen a £25m bid rejected in recent days, with Eintracht Frankfurt considered to be a firm option for the attacking midfielder.
Interest from fellow Bundesliga side RB Leipzig is dependent on the future of Chelsea target Xavi Simons, while a third German side in Borussia Dortmund have kept a close eye. City will include a buyback clause in any deal for the academy graduate.
Everton see Grealish – training with City’s main group this week – as a potential marquee signing, although the word earlier in the summer on the England international would be that a move is likely to materialise into August given the loan market and given other clubs will come to the table. Napoli have had a look.
Kalvin Phillips, recovering from achilles surgery, is in the building this week. Ilkay Gundogan has been wanted by Galatasaray, Kovacic has admirers but the group will possess a better idea of where they stand in the coming weeks.
Everton are targeting Jack Grealish as a potential marquee signing
Kalvin Phillips is back in the building this week after his loan at Ipswich and achilles surgery
Meanwhile, the club’s ‘loans group’ – Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Callum Doyle, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Luke Mbete, Joel Ndala – have been training together for a number of weeks.
Ndala has sealed a switch to Hull City and Simpson-Pusey is likely to join Celtic amid interest from Swansea City and Derby County.
Doyle is valued at around £8m. Hoffenheim saw a bid rejected last month and there is interest from Udinese. English teams are looking for a loan but City and the defender want a permanent transfer.
And the answer to the teaser up at the top? Angelino, signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2019. He went on to make just six league appearances before joining Leipzig.
