There are just seven days left of the transfer window, before the deadline at 11pm on September 1. For Manchester City, there are still important decisions to make across the squad in terms of remaining incoming and outgoings.
Mateo Kovacic, Aymeric Laporte left on Thursday in the third senior departure of the summer following Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez. Josko Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku have arrived to take City’s spending to £155.5m. Including academy sales and sell-on clauses, City have recouped £113.75m, with up to £13.6m following in add-ons.
With one week left, City must decide if they want to reenter the market to strengthen their midfield, particularly after the news that Kevin De Bruyne is out until the New Year.
And there are also the futures of a number of fringe players to be decided on, with transfer interest but decisions to be made on whether those youngsters will remain part of Pep Guardiola’s first-team plans.
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The first choice to be made is whether to add another midfielder to the squad after Doku arrives. There is interest in Matheus Nunes at Wolves and Eberechi Eze at Crystal Palace, with reports of an opening offer for Nunes going in on Thursday. City now have a week to persuade Palace or Wolves to part with one of their prized assets, should they decide to strengthen their midfield.
With incoming signings for the three senior departures, any other signings don’t appear on the cards at present, but there is still the prospect of a number of outgoings to potentially boost the budget.
Joao Cancelo is the most senior member of the squad linked with an exit, having not been involved in any matchday squad this season. Cancelo was at Bayern Munich between January and June, before returning to City on their pre-season tour. Spanish media think Barcelona are in with a chance of signing Cancelo on loan with an option to buy, which could be his best avenue of playing regular football this season.
City must decide if that is better than having an unhappy squad member, even if it opens up the chance of being in the same position next summer if Barcelona (or any other club) don’t buy him permanently. The fact that the Saudi Arabian transfer window remains open for longer could offer another solution to that dilemma.
Then there is the strange cases of two youngsters who thrived in the Championship last season – Tommy Doyle and Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Both have second-tier pedigree and won the under-21 Euros over the summer, but have so far not secured a place to play football for the coming season. They haven’t been involved in the first team picture, so will be hoping to secure their futures rather than remain in uncertainty until January
Pep Guardiola has recalled James McAtee to his first team this summer and City have knocked back bids for him. Guardiola says that McAtee can play where De Bruyne can while the Belgian is out, but he has played just one minute since the start of the season. Similarly, Oscar Bobb has been promoted to the senior squad, but hasn’t played a minute yet so a decision may have to be made on where he plays his football this season – especially if Nunes or Eze arrive after Doku.
Finally, Cole Palmer impressed in the Super Cup and can play on either wing or through the middle. However, he admitted he could look to leave if City sign a ‘replacement’ for De Bruyne, and Guardiola said if he did leave it would be permanent rather than on loan. If that decision is made, it would benefit Palmer to be made this week.
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