Manchester City are among a clutch of elite clubs monitoring Brighton‘s breakout star Evan Ferguson.
That news should not surprise anyone. The 18-year-old’s impressive early impact at the Amex has sparked interest from “nearly every one” of the Premier League‘s Champions League contenders, according to one recruitment executive i spoke to.
But City’s interest is intriguing given they would, ideally, like to extend Erling Haaland‘s contract past 2027. As a piece of succession planning, if the Norway striker is lured to Real Madrid, it makes sense. Having both on board in a couple of years’ time is a scary prospect indeed.
That is the way things work at the Etihad, where recruitment is sketched out years in advance. But after what rates as a slightly tricky summer for City after their triumph in Istanbul, there may be reason to reflect on whether transfer policy needs a tweak or two if they are to pitch for the likes of Ferguson, a potential £150m-rated star, in the future.
Granted, they landed top target Josko Gvardiol, a generational centre-back talent. Mateo Kovacic was a useful early addition and their window ended with a flurry of spending, most intriguingly the £55.5m invested in the raw but potentially exhilarating Jeremy Doku.
But the question rebounding around the Etihad is whether there are lessons to be learned and flexibility to be built into a recruitment system that has helped them reach the summit of the game.
It sounds like a ridiculous statement to make about a team that are top of the Premier League with four wins from four and have yet to move out of third gear.
But a summer that began with genuine interest in Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice ended with City acquiescing to Wolves’ demands for midfield metronome Matheus Nunes on deadline day.
When you aspire to be the leading club in the world – on and off the field – that has to be regarded as a misstep of sorts given the budget and sales pitch at your disposal.
Not that it will appear that way for a while. Nunes is a fine technical player who will slot easily into Pep Guardiola’s winning machine this season. The head coach is so good, and his pursuit of excellence so relentless, that he will find a way to reshape things and win trophies with the players that he’s got.
But this was a window when City could, had they wanted to, have rolled their sleeves up and got involved in a bidding war for a potential game changer. Instead, they stepped away from the pursuit of two young England midfielders with the world at their feet having never really – according to at least one source i spoke to with knowledge of the Rice negotiations – invested much time and money in either deal.
Perhaps they were spoiled with the pleasing precision of their big 2022 move for Haaland, whose signing upgraded them from Premier League to European champions. The player was so sold on the move to the Etihad, for personal and professional reasons, that it handed City unassailable leverage. When the time came to trigger his release clause no club, not even Real, were able to intervene.
But it won’t always be like that. For every Doku – who was so sold on City that late interest from Spurs was immaterial – there is a Rice, invested in Arsenal but who might have been turned by money and opportunity.
With the Saudi Pro League disrupting the market and offering players like Riyad Mahrez alternatives, perhaps some tweaking of Txiki Begiristain’s method is required.
A refresh in a year’s time may be required if some of their fringe men fail to assert themselves.
Kalvin Phillips’s future is increasingly uncertain. He had interest from Everton and Newcastle but there was a determination on the part of the player to prove himself capable of fitting into the Guardiola system and a seeming reluctance on the part of City to write off such a big investment.
He is part of the England set-up for now but if there is no meaningful game time he is likely to push for a loan in January to shore up his Euro 2024 spot. There will be no shortage of takers, especially with Newcastle’s obvious need for a number six.
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