It been a busy summer transfer window for a lot of clubs for sure. It’s been less busy for some club’s fans than they would have-perhaps hoped / thought they needed, incoming wise; for us I personally think it’s been an extremely productive and very shrewd one without doubt.
Let’s have a look then…
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In |
||
|
Name |
Position |
Cost |
|
Goalkeeper |
Undisclosed – U’15 |
|
|
Mateo Kovacic |
Midfielder - Centre |
£25M +£5M add-ons |
|
Josko Gvardiol |
Defender – Left / Centre |
£77.6M |
|
Midfielder |
£1M |
|
|
Jeremy Doku |
Winger – Left / Right |
£55.5M |
|
Matheus Nunes |
Midfielder – Centre |
£53M |
TOTAL SUMMER EXPENDITURE: £212.1M +add-ons (plus undisclosed fees)
|
Out |
||
|
Name |
Position |
Cost |
|
Defender – Right |
Free / Released |
|
|
Ilkay Gundogan |
Midfielder – Centre |
Free / Released |
|
Benjamin Mendy |
Defender / Winger – Left |
Free / Released |
|
Goalkeeper |
Free / Released |
|
|
Winger – Left |
Undisclosed |
|
|
Goalkeeper |
Undisclosed |
|
|
Forward |
Free / Released |
|
|
Defender – Centre |
Free / Released |
|
|
Midfielder – Centre |
£10.5M +£4.5M add-ons |
|
|
Midfielder – Centre |
Undisclosed |
|
|
Goalkeeper |
£15M +£4M add-ons |
|
|
Riyad Mahrez |
Winger – Right |
£30M |
|
Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre |
£1.75M |
|
|
Winger – Left |
£12M +£5.3M add-ons |
|
|
Aymeric Laporte |
Defender – Left / Centre |
£23.6M |
|
Midfielder / Winger – L / R / C |
£40M +2.5M add-ons |
|
|
Striker – Centre |
Free transfer |
|
This summer, we also received around £9.5M from a sell-on clause included in Pedro Porro’s sale to Sporting CP; with the player now having signed for Spurs on a permanent basis, following an initial loan spell with the North London club. Additionally, we then received £11.6M from a sell-on clause that was inserted into Romeo Lavia’s sale to Southampton, when he then made this summer’s move from the south coast club to Chelsea.
TOTAL SUMMER INCOME: £153.95M, including sell-on clause activations received this summer from previous sales, PLUS add-ons to come in the future (plus undisclosed fees too).
BALANCE: A summer deficit of -£58.15M which, considering we’ve added four, very good players who should enhance our squad tremendously, I think is a good summer of business; especially when you see the price some of the other sides paid for certain players and squads collectively.
And, purely for your information…
…here's a list of players who have left on loan in the summer:
- Liam Delap – Striker – Hull City
- Kian Breckin – Midfielder – Wycombe Wanderers
- Callum Doyle – Defender – Leicester City
- Yan Couto – Defender – Girona (for an additional, second season running)
- Issa Kabore – Defender – Luton Town
- Josh Wilson-Esbrand – Defender – Reims
- Finley Burns – Defender – Stevenage
- Alex Robertson – Midfielder – Portsmouth
- Filip Stevanovic – Winger – RKC Waalwijk
- Maximo Perrone – Midfielder – Las Palmas
- Tommy Doyle – Midfielder – Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Jadel Katongo – Defender – Peterborough United
- Luke Mbete – Defender – FC Den Bosch
- TaylorHarwood-Bellis – Defender – Southampton
- Joao Cancelo – Defender – Barcelona
- James McAtee – Midfielder / Forward – Sheffield United
Total number of incoming players including youth signings: 6
Total number of permanent transfers out this summer: 17
Total number of departing players this summer including those on loan: 33
Thoughts on our first-team-bound, incoming players?
- We’ve already seen Mateo Kovacic in plenty of action and I think most, if not all, City fans would agree that we’ve signed a more-than-solid, very experienced footballer…and for a today-bargain fee of “just” £25M +add-ons. A very steady player indeed who brings something to the defensive side of things; turn-overs and build-up play as well as carrying an attacking, creative threat too. I can only see the 29-year-old getting even better in his ‘prime years’ under Pep and his team’s guidance.
- Despite his young age (21 last January), Josko Gvardiol looks confident beyond his years. Of course, he’s still getting used to our fluid defensive system but he already looks far from out of place. What a player we’ve signed for both now and the distant future.
- We have seen Jeremy Doku in action as recently as Saturday just gone in his debut game and it wasn’t a bad one at all. He’s already filled both flanks of the attacking midfield in that same, first outing too. Pacy / tricky, as we knew he was, but also tracked back to help out deeper when needed – Pep will like that, I’m sure. We’ll have many more games to evaluate the just-turned 21-year-old after a game that was marred only by him-perhaps trying a little TOO hard to impress at times but, for me, this is exactly the type of player we needed; someone with genuine pace down the flanks to give us another dimension / option for when the tippy-tappy passing isn’t getting us through. There’s no reason we can’t use both at the same time, of course.
- We haven’t yet seen Matheus Nunes in action in a City shirt but he looks to be a perfect Manchester City signing…and Pep’s made no secret of his admiration of the just-turned 25-year-old. One of the key elements for me – and has been for a long, long time – is a good attitude as well as ‘the skills’. Simply put, when I had finished watching his welcome interview on City’s website, I was left feeling very impressed indeed.
To sum up, I think the people in the back have done us very proud indeed this summer and continue to set the standard for all the other sides in country, if not the world. In fact, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that this is perhaps the best squad we’ve ever had in terms of quality in ALL areas, with so many excellent options in EVERY department now as opposed to “just” most.
Thank you, as always, for taking the time to click on and read.
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