Manchester City arrived at the September international break six points behind Liverpool despite a summer of heavy recruitment. The club completed seven signings and finished the window with a total spend of \u00a3179.5 million.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper depth increased markedly. Marcus Bettinelli joined as emergency cover, James Trafford returned to the Etihad, and Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived on deadline day. Donnarumma has immediately risen to the top of the pecking order. The former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper is not a trademark Guardiola stopper and certainly lacks the same quality of distribution as the recently departed Ederson, but he remains one of the world\u2019s leading goalkeepers. For just \u00a330.3 million ($40.9 million), he should easily prove one of the bargains of the summer anywhere in world football.<\/p>\n
At right back Guardiola has alternated between Matheus Nunes and homegrown Rico Lewis. Nunes\u2019 transformation into an all-action right back has not been particularly inspiring, and Lewis offers greater attacking support to City\u2019s build-up play. Lewis is not yet an elite right back, but the 20-year-old\u2019s potential makes him the favoured choice this season.<\/p>\n
R\u00faben Dias signing a contract extension until 2029 was one of City\u2019s best pieces of business. Dias\u2019 quality and leadership remain unquestioned as he seeks to help re-energise a fragile defence. Jo\u0161ko Gvardiol, who has spent much of his City career at left back, is an orthodox central defender whose physical authority makes him a natural partner for Dias.<\/p>\n
Rayan A\u00eft-Nouri\u2019s arrival plugs a longstanding left-back problem. The 24-year-old wing back brings attacking instincts honed at Wolverhampton Wanderers and should adapt to Guardiola\u2019s methods.<\/p>\n
In midfield Rodri has returned to full match fitness after his Club World Cup setback and made his first Premier League start in almost a year in the defeat to Brighton, immediately offering composure. Tijjani Reijnders impressed at the Club World Cup and on his Premier League debut at Molineux with a goal and an assist. Reijnders can set the tempo from deep and pop up in dangerous areas.<\/p>\n
Phil Foden has shown flashes this season. Form is temporary, but class is permanent.<\/p>\n
Rayan Cherki arrived from Lyon for \u00a334 million ($41.1 million) and scored on his Premier League debut but will be sidelined for the next two months with a devastating injury. Omar Marmoush offers wide quality after filling in as a central striker last season. Up front Erling Haaland remains the focal point, having still found the net three times in the Premier League this term after a 34-goal return in all competitions last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City’s summer spend reshaped the XI around Donnarumma, Dias and Rodri’s return this season. Overview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,969],"tags":[593,938,272],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-premier-league","tag-ballon-dor","tag-deadline-day","tag-erling-haaland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}