City set to play a summer regeneration game
- davidjwalker1
- Apr 25
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 26
The tale of Kevin de Bruyne’s imminent departure from Manchester City took another twist after he revealed he’d received no offer to stay at the Etihad.
Those not privy to conversations and representations between club and player might have thought City would’ve offered KDB at least a one-year contract extension – albeit on a radically reduced salary – plus payments based on appearances, goals, assists and trophies.
De Bruyne revealed: “I have not had any offer the whole year, they just took a decision.
"Obviously, I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it. Honestly, I still think I can perform at this level like I'm showing, but I understand clubs have to make decisions."
Perversely, in the ecstatic aftermath of City’s thrilling 2-1 win over Aston Villa – and the ‘93:22 Nuuuunes Moment’, Kevin is now being linked with a move to City’s vanquished opposition from Tuesday night.
Amidst increasing levels of incredulity that City are willing to let KDB leave – without so much as a negotiation – interest continues to mount from clubs in the MLS, Saudi Arabia and other top European leagues.
There's every expectation Kevin (34 in June) will play a key role in what Pep is calling four Premier League ‘cup finals’, as City try to clinch Champions League qualification for a 15th consecutive season.
Before those key PL games against Wolves, Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham, there's a visit to the 'Etihad South' and what promises to be a tough FA Cup semi-final encounter with Nottingham Forest.
Victory on Sunday would bring a third FA Cup under Pep tantalisingly close. It represents City's last chance of 'conventional' silverware and would provide a fitting finale to KDB's decade at the Club.
The £2m winner's prize money wouldn't go amiss, but would be dwarfed by the spoils on offer at the Club World Cup in June.
City will bank £30m simply for turning up at FIFA’s newly formatted 32-team tournament, with the lure of another £67m if they can go all the way in the USA, and retain the title they won in Saudi Arabia in December 2023.
At a time when the world’s top players are rebelling against an already overloaded football calendar, the lucrative financial inducements – along with the newfound kudos of the engorged tournament – means City, and other elite clubs can’t - or won’t - decline to participate in Gianni Infantino’s latest whim.
The economic reality is £97m – or anything approaching it – won’t amiss in a transfer window where City are destined to spend and spend big.
Icons of the Guardiola era look as if they’re going to be replaced by a younger generation. Ageing limbs, injuries, fatigue – both physical and mental – has all too often seen City unable to mount and sustain a high press when out of possession.
Neither has Pep’s previously all-conquering team, been capable of quelling slick transitional play when opponent’s have exposed City’s vulnerable defensive high line.
Sadly, there’s no room for sentimentality at the peak of the football pyramid and age waits for no man.
Bernardo Silva and Ederson (31 and 32 in August) could be heading for Benfica and Saudi Arabia respectively. Ilkay Gundogan – despite triggering the second-year option on his deal – doesn’t appear to be a certainty in Pep’s squad after Guardiola was quoted as saying ‘…we’ll have to see what the summer brings…”
Pep has had much to say about players who cannot withstand the rigours of playing every three or four days – sentiments that don’t bode well for perennial sick notes such as John Stones and Nathan Ake.
Outstanding players and classy individuals, but infuriatingly injury prone, one wonders if they can survive a summer cull which is undoubtedly coming.
Stones will be entering the last season of his contract, whereas Ake – a year younger at 30 – has a deal taking him through to 2027.
There are however, encouraging signs for the popular Dutch defender. His most recent surgery has revealed a long-term ankle fracture which could’ve been the source of many of Ake’s ills. If such an ailment has finally been addressed, it bodes well.
Constantly overlooked and underplayed by Pep – even in such an underwhelming season – it’s hard to see where Jack Grealish (30, in September) would figure in a reshaped City squad for 2025/26.
Often hindered by his £100m transfer fee – hardly the fault of the player – Grealish divides opinion like no other City player. Hugely likeable and as honest as the day is long, only those in the Club’s inner sanctum will have any insight into what Jack has, or hasn’t, done to incur the wrath of his manager.
Mateo Kovacic (31, next month) will have two years remaining on his four-year contract, whereas Kyle Walker (35, in May) is supposed to be making a £4.3m permanent switch to AC Milan, after an initial loan period at the San Siro.
Obviously, not every ‘thirtysomething’ (there’s also Akanji (30 in July) and Ortega (32 in November) – will be shipped out this summer – it would be extraordinarily reckless and ill advised to shed so much nous and experience in one go.
January’s transfer window brought a welcome injection of youth and pace in the shape of Nico Gonzalez (23), Abdukodir Khusanov (21) and Vitor Reis (19) all having made promising starts to their City first team careers.
At 26-years-old, hopes would’ve been high that Omar Marmoush would hit the ground running – and scoring – and the Egyptian forward hasn’t disappointed. Seven goals and two assists in 16 appearances is a good return, boosting his total goal involvement for both City and Eintracht Frankfurt to 43 (27 goals and 16 assists) in 2024/25.
Add in Juma Bah – a prodigious 19-year-old, 6ft 5” tall centre back from Sierra Leone, signed from Real Valladolid and presently out on loan at RC Lens in Ligue 1 – and the average age of the City squad is already falling.
As Pep seeks to reinvigorate and renew his squad this summer there’s every reason to believe City will exceed their £180m January spend.
With so many departing legends, it’s imperative the quartet of new Director of Football Hugo Viana, Guardiola, CEO Ferran Soriano and Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak strike the optimum balance between established and emerging talent.
There’s plenty of names being bandied around; Andrea Cambiaso, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Tijani Reijnders and Florian Wirtz, to mention just a few, but it’d be foolish in the extreme to ignore youngsters, already steeped in Pep’s style of play and ready to graduate from City’s Academy.
Impatience, ambition, avarice, ill judgement on behalf of players and their agents, or the Club simply looking to turn a healthy profit, has seen a myriad of starlets up sticks and leave the Etihad Campus – with mixed results.
Hindsight’s a wonderful thing and it’s hugely subjective to suggest the likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Romeo Lavia and James Trafford would have been better off under Pep’s tutelage – but mistakes have been made by players and Club alike.
In fairness to some, it wasn’t always in the gift of the players to remain at City.
Rogers at Villa jumps out as a prime example of City ‘dropping the ball’. The recently capped 22-year-old England international would be an integral part of Pep’s squad nowadays, but both admit the timing wasn’t right for the player’s pathway to the first team, during 2019-2023.
Sales from the Academy have raised tens of millions of pounds in the past few transfer windows, helping fund big name acquisitions and boost City’s balance sheet, but fans love to see ‘one of their own’ in the starting line-up – none more so than Nico O’Reilly.
The strapping 6ft 4” 20-year-old has burst onto the scene scoring three FA Cup goals, as well as teeing up two vital assists in City’s run to this weekend’s Wembley semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
The attacking midfielder has a further two Premier League goals to his name – all scored from a makeshift position at left back. City have been quick to ward off interest from Chelsea, with Nico set for a new long-term deal at the Etihad.
And when it comes to long-term succession planning, City’s much vaunted Academy has a few players who definitely shouldn’t be going anywhere other than Guardiola’s first team squad next season.
The name Divine Mukasa will be foremost in the minds of City fans who follow the fortunes of the U18 and Premier League 2 teams. The London-born attacking midfielder has been racking up some staggering numbers – 21 goals and 20 assists – in 42 games.
It’s little wonder that the likes of Bayern Munich and Ajax are keen to snap up the 17-year-old, dangling the prospect of accelerated progress to first team football in the Bundesliga or the Eredivisie and senior European competitions.
Born to a Lithuanian mother and a Ugandan father in England, he’s already represented England through the U16, U17 and U18 age groups. Described by City as a ‘…player who excels in tight spaces and is highly skilled at both scoring and assisting goals…’ He’s seen as an individual who brings an, ‘…added level of creativity.’
Jaden Heskey (19) – the eldest of Emilie Heskey’s two sons on City’s books – has been chalking up goals and assists, both in his role as a striker, but more latterly as a box-to-box midfielder in the Under-18s and EDS teams. He was among the scorers as City lifted the FA Youth Cup after beating Leeds 4-0 at the Etihad last May.
Fellow striker Emilio Lawrence was much heralded after his controversial switch from Everton in October 2022 and continues to progress through the EDS ranks.
The younger Heskey – Reigan (17) – a quick, powerful winger is earning rave reviews, alongside attacking midfielder Finlay Gorman, also 17, who stands out for his technical ability and intelligent play in the final third of the pitch.
It’s all too easy to overlook some fine young players flourishing at the Etihad Campus, those who didn't warrant a big transfer fee and any accompanying fanfare.
One of the best examples is Stephen Mfuni (17) – a classy, left sided defender, who stepped up, aged sweet 16, to play 85 minutes and score, in the U-18 FA Youth Cup Final win over Leeds.
It'd be naive to think City can bring half-a-dozen players through the Academy straight into the ranks of the first team but perhaps now - more than ever before - there's more reasons to believe it a distinct possibility.
One thing is for certain and that is City have a seismic summer of comings and goings on the horizon, one where it’s imperative they get it right when playing the regeneration game.
Dedication…
Dedicated to Amy Kershaw – a much loved and integral part of an extended family of City Blues – as she continues to battle illness, overcome complications and fight her way back to good health.
By David Walker
Twitter @ReadButNeverRed
@djwskyblu