Apparently Manchester City are bad now, and everyone is scrambling to work out how they didn’t see it coming.
Defeat to Liverpool makes it seven games without a win, including six losses, and there is an increasing sense that there are fundamental issues in the make-up of this City squad.
So how did we get here, and what are the biggest transfer mistakes Pep Guardiola’s side have made in recent years?
Not signing back-up to Rodri
No-one is saying finding adequate replacement for Rodri is easy – or even possible – but City have completely failed in their search.
His absence remains the most obvious catalyst and facilitator of the recent decline, even if it is far from the only reason.
While some will argue City have made signings in central midfield, Matheus Nunes and Kalvin Phillips are both very different players to the Spaniard, as is the returning Ilkay Gundogan.
Mateo Kovacic has been the most convincing replacement, but he’s injury prone, inconsistent and at his best slightly further forward. Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis have also both been used at the base of midfield, but their lack of height and physicality is an insurmountable obstacle.
The lack of a capable elite pivot was agonisingly obvious against Liverpool, as City were turned over in their own half repeatedly. Even if the replacement didn’t have Rodri’s offensive capabilities, the defensive impact of his absence is catastrophic and must be resolved in January.
Selling Cole Palmer
Hindsight’s 20-20, but selling Cole Palmer may well be remembered as one of the great transfer snafus. It’s easy to say that City didn’t see his rise coming, but why should they be let off that easily?
This is a player who had been on their books since 2010. They were well aware of his capabilities and potential.
To say a team which is so lacking in creative spark and freedom did not need a player of Palmer’s free-wheeling genius is just false. Not finding space for him is an inescapable failing and one they should already be regretting.
Sticking with Kyle Walker
When Bayern Munich came calling in 2023, there was a clear opportunity for City to move on from Kyle Walker. This summer he was also linked with a Saudi move, among others.
It has been a great six years, but the captain is rapidly declining, beset by off-field distractions of his own making and repeatedly at fault for key goals.
This would have allowed them to commit to Rico Lewis at right-back, or more saliently find a younger, more capable replacement in Walker’s mould.
Instead, they are stuck with a 34-year-old who has built a deservedly world-beating career on a pace and physicality he is losing by the day.
Signing Matheus Nunes
This is nothing against Nunes, who is a perfectly serviceable Premier League midfielder, but his £53m signing in September 2023 was bizarre.
The Portuguese had been good in his sole season at Wolves, and Guardiola had once called him “one of the best players in the world” after City beat Sporting Lisbon 5-0 in the Champions League last-16.
But he has failed to make any real impact, or show any real improvement, since his move. Now utilised as a left midfielder, he has started six of the seven winless matches, and despite a good goal against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, he has clearly not settled in the role.
Had the Nunes money been spent on a player which better suits this City squad – or even on a Rodri replacement – the club would be in a stronger position today. This feels like a Guardiolan passion project he has forgotten to dedicate the necessary time and care to.
Selling Liam Delap
City’s academy is the best in England, and so it is no surprise they end up regretting some of the sales they make.
But having stuck with Liam Delap until this summer, allowing him to leave for first-team football when City only have one recognised striker in the squad is remarkably short-sighted.
He is now the joint-ninth top scorer in the Premier League and has converted more of his shots (29 per cent) than Erling Haaland (19), Mohamed Salah (26) and Palmer (19).
A powerful ball-carrier and brilliant finisher, he is similar to Haaland in style and stature, and having Delap as a back-up – or partner – to the Norwegian would only strengthen City’s options this season.
Not replacing Julian Alvarez
This is an issue which could have been dealt with by keeping hold of Delap or Palmer, but while £83m was a transfer fee City had to take for Julian Alvarez, not replacing him smacked of complacency.
Oscar Bobb may have been able to shoulder that weight, but having broken his leg before the start of the season, City had plenty of time to assess that even a short-term loan replacement was necessary.
Instead City have a glut of wide attacking options and only Haaland through the middle. Phil Foden’s collapse in form has not helped this either, but he is more comfortable operating from deeper than Bobb or Alvarez.
Re-signing Ilkay Gundogan
It should have been abundantly clear to anyone who watched Gundogan at Barcelona that while his gifts on the ball were as sharp as ever, his off-ball play was rapidly declining. In football parlance, his legs were going.
They have now well and truly gone, and City’s former box-crashing captain is now resigned to short passes and chasing shadows.
Had the German not returned, Guardiola would have recruited smarter in midfield and may have found either the necessary Rodri replacement or a far more functional central option.
Signing Kalvin Phillips
This doesn’t need hugely rehashing. Kalvin Phillips did not work in Manchester, to an extent he may never fully recover from. He never felt like a City player and Guardiola mistreated him in the media and failed to support him adequately behind the scenes. A shambles from start to finish.
Not replacing Joao Cancelo
Not enough is made of the impact Joao Cancelo’s sudden departure had on City in January 2023. Comfortable on both sides of defence, City have not had a traditional left-back of the requisite quality since he left, meaning they almost entirely rely on converted centre-backs.
While this regularly works, there are plenty of days it doesn’t entirely. Adequately replacing Cancelo would have lessened the impact of Walker’s struggles while also giving City different options down the left.
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