Taxi?

Time to have a look at who might be leaving us this summer and whether I’d like to see ‘em stay or not.

Scott Carson?

Well…his 1-year-extended, loan contract with us is up once again but, then again, so is his main contract with his ‘parent club’, Derby County. He’s not a number, he’s a free man!

If he does stay, I just wonder if it’ll be in the same role – being registered as a player, which will no doubt see him on the bench from time-to-time next season and especially in at least one of the domestic cups, as well as helping out in the keeper-coaching department. If he does stay and sign a contract with us it could be in a 100% coaching-capacity role; adding to what we already have in the backroom department. Either way, I think he’s liked & appreciated at Manchester City and I reckon there’s some desire by the club to keep the ex-England international.

If the club wish to keep Scott / give him a contract, then I suppose it’s-then-all down to the player himself – at 36 in September he’s certainly still young enough as a keeper to find a club at some level and become their main stopper, so it all depends on whether he wants that or would be happy with the role at Manchester City that I’ve suggested.

Chances of him leaving or, more accurately in this situation, not being given a new contract in the summer in my opinion: 5/10

Would I like to see him stay? I think as a coach then, yes, but I think I’d like to see an-even-younger-than-Zack keeper get third choice next season – James Trafford or Gavin Bazunu perhaps. But seeing as Pep seems to like an experienced veteran as third choice, then I’d be happy for Scott to be than man for another season.

Aymeric Laporte?

I’m shocked to have to include the Frenchman as a possible departee but there have been rumours of late – slightly fuelled by the way Aymeric answered certain questions in at least one interview – about him wanting to leave. If true, the reason is straight forward – the surprise and vast improvement by John Stones has seen the 27-year-old get far less time on the pitch than expected.

If he does have a desire to leave then I can fully understand his situation – he’s been frustrated to say the very least at international level and as an excellent central defender approaching his prime years, he’s yet to feature once for France in competitive competition above Under-21 level. So much so, in fact, that he’s recently changed his international allegiances to Spain!

So, what does he do in order to-now-force his way into the Spain squad and, hopefully, first 11? Work hard in training / wait patiently at Manchester City or move to a club & situation where he’s likely to get a first team place right from the off?

Should he make it clear to Manchester City that he does want to leave then I have little doubt that Pep will do all he can to persuade Aymeric to stay – I’m sure Guardiola wouldn’t want to see such a big talent leave us and he’ll know that, should it happen, it’s another big hole to fill; despite the signing of Nathan Ake last summer.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 3/10

Would I like to see him stay? Absolutely!

Benjamin Mendy?

Regular readers will know my feelings about this fella. Do we know what Pep thinks of him? Of course we don’t.

However, I don’t think I’d be far off the mark by suggesting that our manager has finally had enough now; would like to move him on and possibly bring in better quality at left-wing back to compete with Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Two things to consider regarding any departure is…

1.    We’d be making a massive loss, of course, despite the fact that he still has 2 years remaining on his contract.

2.    Who’d have him?! Who have an injury-prone, left-wing back who’s lost some pace since his signed / suffered bad injuries and who can’t defend?

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 9/10

Would I like to see him stay? NO!

Joao Cancelo

An obvious choice to include in a piece about players who MIGHT leave in the summer, seeing as there were very strong rumours that he wanted to leave just 5 months after signing for us.

I’m really not that enamoured with fella most of the time. SOME of the time he’s decent; sometimes he’s really quite good. But it’s all-too-often in-between really underwhelming performances and I just don’t know what that is. A lack of focus? A lack of determination / positive attitude?

Pedro Porro & Yan Couto are supposed to be very exciting, young right-wing backs signed fairly recently and loaned out abroad and if there’s a belief within the club that at least one of them is good enough and ready to be the back-up to Kyle Walker, then there’s a big opportunity to off-load, for decent money, a player whose heart may still not be in Manchester. If there is an underlying lack of desire in the Portuguese international to be here then I don’t think there’s enough talent nor consistency in the player for Pep to stand in his way, unlike Aymeric.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 5/10

Would I like to see him stay? Not really, as long as we have plans in place to cover that position.

Nathan Ake

Similar to the Laporte situation, it saddens me to feel the need to include Nathan in this blog-posting. Like Aymeric, he’s here simply because of recent rumours that he wants to move on to get more game time.

I suppose, as he was putting pen to paper, he looked at 2 central defender positions and saw “only” John Stones who, up to this season, looked like his City career may have been coming to an end and Aymeric Laporte; an excellent defender but one, who, had received a bad injury in recent times. Then there was the left-wing back slot too; a position that was being largely filled by a makeshift player. Nathan probably saw opportunities aplenty to get regular football in a Manchester City shirt.

So, he signs and just a few weeks later Ruben Dias arrives; John Stones turns from Clark Kent into Superman and Oleksandr Zinchenko puts in mostly fine performances. Chuck in an injury or two and Nathan suddenly finds an exciting move not exactly going to plan.

There’s a chance, yes, at 27 next birthday Nathan won’t want to see himself slip out of the reckoning of the Dutch Manager through a lack of gametime and COULD, therefore, request a move; even if that was to be on loan. But I think he’s got the type of character to want to fight for a place next season and then have a look at the situation once again next summer.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 2/10

Would I like to see him stay? Definitely.

Fernandinho

Well, he is 36 years of age and out of contract in a few weeks – why wouldn’t I include him?! This one is quite simple in that…if he and, perhaps, the medical staff at Manchester City feel like he has another half-season in his legs and he WANTS to stay then, for me, he stays.

He might still have the legs (he does appear to keep himself very lean & fit) but he might feel that he’s contributed enough now; might want to either ‘put his feet up’ or play a season or two for a club in South America or perhaps Spain; where the weather might be kinder on his well-used joints.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 4/10

Would I like to see him stay? Yes.

Raheem Sterling

Now here’s a tricky one. Being blunt…as our team & club have, generally speaking, been getting better & better over the years, this clearly-talented player has slowly regressed season by season. Alarmingly though, that slow, steady decline over the previous 2 seasons - where we saw the brilliant, the inconsistent and the poor Raheem - turned into a proper slump in the second half of the season just gone; a baffling downturn that continued right to the very end of the season. It’s pretty damming that, isn’t it, which is something that gives me no pleasure at all to write.

I think this is one where, given the chance with the Euros looming, he and his manager might have to have a sit down to try ‘n’ work out what the issue might be; the issue being that he is a top-quality player but there seems to be some blocking mechanism in his head that stops him making the right, on-the-pitch decision; often causing him to run down blind allies or make frustratingly-poor decision when ‘in on goal’.

If we are to push on and not stand still after another Premier League winning season, as our chairman recently said in his usual post-season interview, then we can’t afford to have our attacking left flank stutter ‘n’ splutter like that for big chunks of the season. We need to either move Phil Foden over there more-permanently and add to our attacking / creative central midfield (more to come on that in a blog-posting about new, summer signings) or simply get a new left-winger; something some City fans were calling for when we lost Leroy Sane.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 4/10

Would I like to see him stay? Depends which Raheem you’re talking about. The Raheem I know can rip defenders apart and score goals aplenty as well as create goals for his teammates? Definitely. The other one? No.

Riyad Mahrez

Seems a little strange to include Riyad in this piece at the end of this season; his best season for us in my opinion.

Those good performances and that good form did take a little while to come but once it did, it stayed for a reasonably long period and his contribution was excellent during our best run and congested fixtures.

But, in the main and since he signed in July 2018, there has been a lot of inconsistency and underperforming and he most-definitely splits opinion. There were rumors a while back that PSG were glancing over at him and that Riyad himself was open to a move away. So, at 31 next birthday and with just 2 years remaining on his current deal (the twitchy time for a lot of clubs) I just wonder whether the club will have a think and a chat with the Algerian and consider letting him talk to other clubs? After all, we do have a player ‘chomping at the bit’, in Ferran Torres, to become a regular on the attacking right flank; there’s Bernardo Silva, of course, and we’re about to be joined by two 18-year-old South American right wingers in new-signings Dario Sarmiento & Kayky; although it’s highly unlikely they’ve been brought in to feature for our first team this season coming.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 5/10

Would I like to see him stay? I’m right on the fence with this one – I’d been pleased to see him stay and would hope that he can largely maintain good levels of performance but, at the same time and as long as I was confident that position was well covered, I wouldn’t exactly be crying into my beer as he disappeared over the horizon.

Rodri

“Mr Marmite”, as I’ve recently referred to him as. Decent, without being brilliant; sometimes doing a very good job ‘under the radar’ which, perhaps, doesn’t always get spotted or appreciated by a lot of City fans. Capable of really good games but, all too often, doesn’t exactly fill you with a lot of confidence; certainly not as much as Fernandinho often does. Capable of a few too many errors, I would say, and a little slow / slow to turn is something often levelled at the Spaniard. That’s a sort of ‘school report’ that comes with a, “6/10 – Could do better”.

But I think Pep likes him and wouldn’t want to off-load him just yet…and I do have to remind myself that he does only turn 25 in a few weeks’ time (looks older to me, sorry Rodders).

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 3/10

Would I like to see him stay? If Fernandinho is leaving us then yes; we’d need his familiarity with the team & system while we also, then-hopefully, bring in a young defensive midfielder to compete / rotate with him. However, if Fernandinho stays on another season then no; I’d be happy to get some money in for the player who has 3 years left on his contract and get a much better defensive midfielder in his place to rotate with Fernandinho; whether than be from within the club or in the transfer market.

Gabriel Jesus

It seems every summer there’s talk of the Brazilian moving on. But do you know what I like? None of the rumors ever seem to come from the player himself; a player who has only JUST turned 24 and who simply keeps his head down and works hard.

It’s another player who splits a lot of City fans but from what I can gauge, that split has been growing over the last couple of years and is about 70/30 in favour of him moving on now. Pep will love his work rate, as most City fans appreciate too, but how many times have we seen our manager spin around with his head in his hands when perfectly good goal-scoring opportunities ‘go begging’; not just from the Gabriel but, still…

If there’s a feeling amongst management that it might be time to cash in on the forward who has 2 years left on his current deal then one thing that might change their mind is-if Raheem Sterling moves in the summer, which would leave a tantalising position on the left flank; a role I’ve seen him enjoy in the past. Also, if Gabriel does leave us that’ll leave an-already thin department practically barren; despite Liam Delap being promoted to the first team for season 2021-22.

Chances of him leaving in the summer in my opinion: 3/10

Would I like to see him stay? Yes…but I would like to see him tried more on the left wing when situations / other personnel considerations allow.

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read.

Next up, a look at positions that need filling together with some possible names to suggest (that might be some time next week now).