Five Players Manchester City Should Try To Sign

Manchester City are set for a summer of significant player turnover. New manager Pep Guardiola is likely to ring the changes on an ageing squad as he looks to implement his ideas early on. Old favourites like Yaya Touré and Pablo Zabaleta look set for the exit, while big money signings who have failed to impress might also be on their way out. In that regard, Wilfried Bony looks a certainty to leave while Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi will also know their names could be on the list of potential departures.

With that in mind, new recruits are a must. I picked five players I’d love the Blues to sign. Some are realistic, others not so much. Still, it’s nice to dream.

Harry Kane

The Englishman is a phenomenon. He really came to prominence in the 2014/15 season, bagging an impressive 31 goals in 51 games. This season, he followed that up with 28 in 48 matches, winning the Premier League Golden Boot in the process. He has also registered four goals in ten games for his country.

He has impressed under both Tim Sherwood and Mauricio Pochettino during his time at Spurs, which shows his ability to work under different styles. He is an intelligent striker who has more to his game than just goals. The variety to his strikes is impressive, but it is the clinical nature with which he dispatches anything in the box that grabs the eye. I believe he would fit perfectly into a Guardiola team that will be built on hard work and intelligent forward play. The likelihood of tempting Tottenham to part with him is low but if City are tempted to spend big money on a replacement for Bony, they could do worse than sound out Kane.

Paul Pogba

The Juventus midfielder has been on the radar of Europe’s top clubs for some time now. Allowing him to leave Manchester United will long stand as one of Alex Ferguson’s greatest mistakes; that club’s loss has been Juventus’ gain.

Over four season’s in Turin, the Frenchman has turned his incredible potential into something more tangible. If he leaves the Italian giants, it is very likely that he will command a world record transfer fee – especially if he moves to England. The Premier League will be richer than ever this season and The Old Lady of Italy will require an eye-watering offer before they think about selling their most prized asset. He registered his interest in working with Guardiola back in February, noting that, “People respect him. When you see him you want to play and progress. He is an icon of football and I’ve heard he manages to improve every player he has at his disposal.“ City should move fast; a triumphant campaign on home soil at the European Championships this summer would see his price rise even higher.

Lionel Messi

I don’t even need to justify this. He’s the greatest football in the world by a country mile and, in my opinion, the greatest player to have ever played the game. I did warn you these weren’t all realistic.

John Stones

The 21-year-old has dropped off since his early season form saw him linked with all of Europe’s top clubs for an eye-watering £50m fee. However, working at Everton under Roberto Martinez – an astoundingly bad defensive manager – has not been good for him in the second half of the season. That said, his raw talent is unquestionable and top clubs will still be sniffing around him.

Guardiola is, primarily, a defensive manager. It is the extraordinary attention to detail in his back line and organisation that allows his teams to play the attractive, attacking football he is famed for. At Bayern Munich, Jerome Boateng said that Guardiola was the first manager who ever taught him how to defend; he subsequently became of the world’s best centre-backs. Stones is young enough to be moulded in the Guardiola way, just as Boateng was. At 21, he would be a wise long-term investment for the club.

David Alaba

This one is a touch fanciful given that he only signed a new contract this season, but Alaba is a player who has blossomed during Guardiola’s spell at Bayern Munich. That alone makes him very tempting. City will need a new left-back this summer; it feels like Aleksander Kolarov’s time at the Etihad is finally up. Austrian international Alaba more than fits the bill as a replacement and he’s versatile, which is a quality the incoming manager demands. He’s probably out of reach, but stretching and seeing what they can grasp wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Blues. If Alaba proved unattainable early in the window, they could then move to other targets.