Eleven key player that needs upgrade whole some of them will not be here next season

Eleven key player that needs upgrade whole some of them will not be here next season

Silva Lewis Akanji Man City

Man City stars Bernardo Silva, Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji could all be upgraded in the summer.

Manchester City collapsed yet again on Tuesday, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League, in a game which further demonstrated their need for a quite the summer overhaul despite them spending £180m on new additions in January.

 

We can’t tell you how annoyed we are with City for having 11 players that need to be discarded or upgraded by Pep Guardiola in the summer rather than a nice even number but we couldn’t leave any of this lot out, who are either over the hill or aren’t good enough.

 

Kevin De Bruyne

The most crucial cog in Pep Guardiola’s trophy-winning machine in the last decade and quite possibly the greatest midfielder to have ever played in the Premier League. But it’s time.

 

Actually, his time was probably last summer when City could have made use of some Saudi gold rather than letting him leave for nothing at the end of this season, in which evidence of his absurd skill and talent has been scant thanks to injury and a clear lack of full match fitness when he has played.

 

Mateo Kovacic

There’s an Always The Bridesmaid Never The Bride theme running through Kovacic’s career, with the Croatian a four-times Champions League winner who’s only made one brief substitute appearance in any of those finals, against Manchester City for Chelsea in 2021.

 

His 1550 minutes in the Premier League this season is already more than he played last term for Manchester City, with Rodri’s injury meaning a guy who was bought to play a bit-part role has more often than not been the lead in a midfield that’s very clearly not fit for purpose.

 

Kovacic is a very fine footballer when he’s got world-class players around him, but has never looked comfortable when he’s supposed to be the main man, all too often crumbling when the going gets tough.

 

Matheus Nunes

Amid questions as to whether Nunes has the requisite quality to play for Manchester City after a number of dodgy displays this season, the Portugal international could quite reasonably cry foul on the basis of him playing just 210 of his 1710 minutes in his favoured central midfield role.

 

 

He’s played six games at right-back having never played there before, which was painfully obvious to anyone watching, and has played more games on the left wing (9) than in his other five seasons in senior football combined.

 

We’re not saying he’s the answer in midfield for Guardiola, who probably knows better than we do, but how sh*t must he be to have not been given the chance to stake his claim in such desperate times? A terrible waste of £53m.

 

Ilkay Gundogan

We’re not really sure we’ve ever quite known what Gundogan is as a footballer. In the past that’s been a positive: he couldn’t be pigeonholed, floating through games as a player you wouldn’t necessarily notice if you weren’t focusing on him, but appreciated hugely when you did. Now it’s more a case of not knowing the point of him.

 

 

He now does everything at a snail’s pace, the late darts into the box are no more and we can’t remember the last time we saw him do anything other than wander into position, receive the ball and pass it sideways or backwards. While Gundogan’s style of football has always been hypnotic, it’s now reached sleep-inducing levels thanks to the complete lack of threat he offers.

 

Nathan Ake

We were never wholly convinced anyway. There was always a slight whiff of Ake being carried by the brilliant defenders alongside him at City, with his lesser quality managed through the excellence of Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and John Stones before Guardiola bought Josko Gvardiol to firmly push Ake out of the picture.

 

He’s also had six separate injury lay-offs since April 2023, missing 31 games, which is far too many.

 

Bernardo Silva

He’s having a quietly terrible season and the City bosses are now presumably wishing they had welcomed what would have been very significant offers from PSG or Barcelona in the summer rather than dismissing the notion of selling Silva before they even came to the negotiating table.

 

With just a year left to run on his contract at the end of comfortably his worst ever season for City they’ll be lucky to get half the transfer fee they could have done.

 

Rico Lewis

Having been really quite baffled by Guardiola’s use of Nunes at right-back, and even by Kyle Walker continuing in that role amid his notable struggles before jumping ship to AC Milan, was Rico Lewis being Right There, but the penny dropped on Tuesday.

 

There’s no great shame in being done by Vinicius Junior, but to look quite so under-equipped and overawed in a big game is a worry. It’s why Akanji started ahead of Lewis, and also why Guardiola will surely look to bring in a new right-back in the summer, or another centre-back-cum-full-back in the Gvardiol mould.

 

Ederson

City supposedly knocked back Al Nassr’s bid of £25m in the summer, wanting £30m for their goalkeeper, and we’re guessing whoever made that decision went to sleep on Tuesday beating themselves for not upgrading Ederson over what amounts to a rounding error from one of their ever-diligent accountants.

 

He’s the reason City aren’t heading to the Bernabeu with the lead, with his weird block into the danger area followed by his inexplicable dash into no-man’s land. He’s a liability and has been for a while.

 

Jack Grealish

We got a glimpse of what he’s capable of against Madrid as his delightful dinked pass to Gvardiol set up Erling Haaland’s opener, but what could have been a turning point for his and City’s season soon turned to sh*t as he limped off to usher in another crushing defeat.

 

There’s just no future for him at City. Guardiola barely used him when he was fit, claiming “the treble Grealish” was no more, before Omar Marmoush arrived to push him further down the pecking order.

 

Manuel Akanji

He dealt pretty well with Vinicius before being forced off at half-time, but he’s made a number of errors this season, appearing to suffer more than anyone from the premature aging process that’s blighting so many members of Guardiola’s squad. He’s only 29 but is playing like a guy with at least three more years in his legs.

 

John Stones

We spent most of the first half against Madrid wondering why Stones hadn’t been used as the stand-in defensive midfielder this season, before the second half gave us a comprehensive and damning answer to that question.

 

Having strolled around the pitch popping passes around as Carlo Ancelotti’s side appeared unaware of quite how terrible City have been the season, Stones was swarmed by the Madrid players upon that realisation late in the game, at which point the England international’s now depleted pace and physicality was found wanting.

 

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