It has been 73 days since Pep Guardiola announced that he would leave Man City if there was no more compact squad. It was in May, when his lips were trembling because he had to be a cruel act when he left 4 veteran players at home. But now, he will have to let the dozens of stars sit at home against Wolves.
Only two weeks left, the Premier League 2025/26 started, and the task of streamlining the squad needs to be done. But instead of streamlining, Man City added two players in this summer. Sometimes, 2 steps and 1 step back is a way to progress. Buy before selling the advantage is that other clubs cannot catch Man City. But bringing back to James Trafford, Marcus Bettinelli, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherk means that Guardiola has 31 players.
Although there have been clear efforts to reduce the average age and salary fund, this is still a costly squad, with some excess players compared to requirements and others do not seem to have many opportunities to play regularly. So what does Pep Guardiola need to do?
Kyle Walker has moved to Burnley with a transfer fee of 5 million pounds, Maximo Perrone joined the como for £ 13 million, Yan Couto docked Dortmund on loan with the terms of purchase. But that is still not enough, Man City needs more people to leave. And now, there is only Kalvin Phillips, Jack Grealish and James McaTee are cleaning luggage.
Goalkeeper Stefan Ortega is the fourth name that is expected to leave, because Man City currently has 4 goalkeepers after Trafford arrives. Man City wants Ederson to stay until the end of the contract next year and ready to sell Ortega, who has 1 year in the contract.
Next is to lend young players. The 18 -year -old, Sverre Nypan will come to Ajax. Girona wants to borrow Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri, but Man City is considering whether to keep Echeverri staying to learn from coach and other strikers like Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush. Oscar Bobb will most likely stay. And Nico O'reLilly is competing due to the appearance of Ait-Touri in the left-back position ..
In the defense, Man City owns 10 crowded defense. John Stones did not play a minute at the FIFA Club World Cup, but still announced he would not leave. Manuel Akanji and Abdukodir Khusanov also have reason to prove that.
In midfield, Man City is also overloaded. Still waiting to see how fast Rodri will regain their form after a front ligament injury, so the support of Nico Gonzalez and Mateo Kovacic may be very important. Meanwhile, rookie Tijjani Reijnders can also be pulled back to play in the “6” position.
