Manchester City spent almost as much in January as the rest of the Premier League combined in a bid to save their season and kickstart their squad rebuild.

Pep Guardiola wanted one more year from his four-in-a-row Premier League champions but the ask was too big and City, despite being top of the league in early November, have collapsed out of contention. Squad stalwarts such as Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne have struggled to hit past heights, while a crippling injury crisis has robbed City of the influential Rodri and all of their starting centre halves at various points in the campaign.

Enter the chequebook and a £180million spending spree that only ended in the closing moments of the window with the arrival of Nico Gonzalez from Porto for £50million. His arrival adds to Omar Marmoush's move from Frankfurt as well as young defensive duo Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, City's outlay on those four players was £10m shy of the outlay from the other 19 top flight clubs.

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And yet despite that splurge, City have not solved one glaring problem and must still accept the reality of another.

Kyle Walker's departure to AC Milan on loan means Pep Guardiola is light at right back, particularly when he overlooks Rico Lewis for midfield convert Mathues Nunes. The latter looks like what he is - a player out of position. And while Lewis, over-played in the opening weeks of the campaign, has his faults in that role, he is surely a better bet than Nunes.

The solution is to sign another right back to compete and provide stability, something that Andrea Cambiasso could have provided had City followed through on their interest in the Juventus man. Guardiola might see one of his centre back options - now bolstered by the arrivals of Khusanov and Reis - as an option on the right but John Stones and Manuel Akanji, the two most likely candidates, are required in the middle with Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias sidelined. As such the right back issue will linger for the coming months and must be addressed decisively in the summer.

If that is priority number one, the second squad concern comes in goal. Stefan Ortega deputised for the injured Ederson in Sunday's drubbing at Arsenal and didn't cover himself in glory. The German had been labelled as the league's best back-up but those claims look far-fetched on recent form.

And while Ederson has his faults and seemingly doesn't have the full trust of his manager, his ball-playing ability is key to the way City build up play and he remains the better option. But he likely isn't the long-term one. He's now 31 - relatively young in goalkeeper terms - but Guardiola has dropped him more than once this season and will likely seek a new recruit in the summer.

While those two positions need addressing, City's winter business has finally provided a Rodri alternative in Gonzalez, while the defence has been future-proofed. Marmoush is essentially a replacement for Julian Alvarez and retaining James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly offers additional midfield options.

The likes of Stones, Bernardo Silva, and De Bruyne - three exceptional players - may no longer be considered week-in, week-out starters in the new City era but but in Rodri, Gonzalez, Phil Foden, Marmoush and Claudio Echeverri, there is a midfield core capable of competing at the highest level. Mateo Kovacic, McAtee and O'Reilly offer further depth.

The options out wide, bolstered by the return to full fitness of Oscar Bobb, mean that is one area where City are stacked while Erling Haaland is Erling Haaland up front.

The Etihad rebuild is now well and truly under way and it's impossible not to argue that City are stronger for their work over the last few weeks, but whether they are strong enough remains to be seen.