Back in January 2016, Pep Guardiola reportedly declared that he wanted to manage a team in the Premier League. The media gossip machinery ran amok, linking him as a long term replacement for either the beleaguered Louis van Gaal at Manchester United or the stop-gap Guus Hiddink at Chelsea. Some ventured so far as to wonder if Arsene Wenger might have earmarked the former Barcelona man as his spiritual successor.
The strongest link, however, was with Manchester City, whose owners had made no secret of the fact they desired Champions League success above all, and were willing to throw many a manager under the bus to achieve it. Manuel Pellegrini, then City manager and a thoroughly decent professional, decided that media conjecture was hurting other teams and managers as much as it was him and his players, and went public with the information that June 30, 2016 would be his last day.
On February 1, City confirmed that Guardiola would indeed join them in the summer. It was a poorly handled succession by the club overall, and led to disgruntlement and lack of motivation in the City squad. City were on a run of five undefeated games and just three points behind eventual champions Leicester City. On February 2, they beat Sunderland away. And then failed to win for the next month.
On April 1, they were 15 points behind Leicester and battling it out, ironically, for a Champions League position. They eventually finished fourth with 66 points, ahead of city rivals Manchester United on goal difference.
Lessons from last season
The City squad was stretched to its limit last season, and by the end of the campaign looked dispirited and completely unmotivated. The league debacle notwithstanding, a Champions League semi-final versus Real Madrid should have seen a hungry team firing on all cylinders. But this City team are a shadow of their former dominant selves, and it looked like they needed a major shake-up.
Key players such as captain Vincent Kompany, David Silva, and new recruit Kevin de Bruyne all suffered an injury plagued season, while players like Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure went through the motions and paid for it by getting dropped for some big matches. Kompany, Nasri and Toure, in particular, have big questions marks over their City future. Wilfried Bony, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov might also be coming to the end of their time at Manchester.
Under Pellegrini, City were at times far too tactically naïve and inexplicably passive in the face of challenges. Pellegrini failed to make the Etihad Stadium a fortress, and five defeats in the last season, including a 4-1 thrashing by Liverpool proved that. A home defeat against Leicester City in February has been spoken of as the game in which Leicester started to truly believe they could go all the way.
Since 2011, Manchester City have succeeded in making themselves a formidable force in English football. A lot of this was down to the desire of each star they added to the mix. Last season, however, it seemed as if things had gone a bit stale. The players seemed to be waiting for circumstances within a match to change, rather than trying to make the change themselves. An ageing, injury-prone squad was another key factor in their losing their way and ending the campaign with a whimper.
Pep's basket of riches
On July 1, Pep Guardiola arrived, and it would appear he had done his homework. City had been making decisive forays into the transfer market from the moment the season ended, with the much vaunted (but injury-prone) Ilkay Gundogan arriving from Borussia Dortmund for £21 million.
Thereafter, City have gone on a mini spree, adding Spanish winger Nolito (£13.8 million), 20-year-old German Leroy Sane (£37 million) and 19-year-old Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus (£27 million), who has been compared to compatriots Ronaldo and Neymar, no less. With John Stones possibly moving from Everton for £50 million, it looks like Guardiola will take his summer spending beyond an eye-popping £150 million.
And these recruitments are required for this new chapter in Manchester City’s history. Many ageing legs need to be replaced, and Guardiola has chosen young, exciting stock to do so. While the signings are definitely with an eye on the future, they will also bring a sense of excitement and renewed vigour into City’s older guard. A player who might not be too pleased with the developments is Kelechi Iheanacho, City’s 19-year-old striker cum winger, who showed such immense promise last season, scoring 8 goals from an astounding total of 12 shots.
Not the finished product yet
Despite their blistering run in the transfer market, City could still do with some key additions. There’s a sense that they’ve added to areas where they were reasonably strong to begin with, whilst ignoring the obvious problems in the back four and in the middle.
In central midfield, Gundogan is a very good player, but has been extremely injury prone of late, and a high tempo league like the Premier League is unforgiving to players even a yard slower, as Bastian Schweinsteiger found out. Fernandinho might find his future in a central defensive position, a la Javier Mascherano at Barcelona, while Fernando and Yaya Toure are below the levels Pep will demand.
In the full-back department, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Kolarov, and Gael Clichy are old, or just not very good anymore, and Pep will be looking at making some functional and mobile additions here. In central defence, Stones’s arrival seems imminent. Joe Hart made massive mistakes at key moments last season and will need a top quality keeper to compete with.
Pep Guardiola v Jose Mourinho
A new era has indeed dawned in Manchester, with Pep Guardiola resuming his infamous rivalry with new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. Both arrive with massive reputations and equally massive expectations, if not more. With Antonio Conte at Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal also vying for the top spot in possibly the most competitive top league in the world, this will be quite the season to debut in for Pep.
Guardiola’s teams are well-drilled, organised units, taught to dominate possession and expose all the weaknesses and frailties in the opposition defence. While most managers seek the easing-in period of an entire season before really making an assault on the Premier League and Champions League, Pep has tasted victory often enough to know what makes a football team tick.
The Premier League might be a different beast altogether, but Guardiola will want to tame it.