Man City’s six January signings ranked by excitement levels | OneFootball

The January transfer window was pretty quiet for most clubs, but not for Manchester City.

Enduring their worst season in a very, very long time, Pep Guardiola’s squad was in desperate need of reinforcements as they scramble to stay in the Premier League top four.

Top of the list was finding someone to step in for midfield linchpin Rodri, who has been sorely missed since he picked up an ACL injury earlier in the campaign.

But there was plenty more to address, including finding support for Erling Haaland and a long-term option at centre-back who can step in now when the likes of John Stones, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake pick up injuries.

City spent big, but which new arrivals should you be most excited about? We’ve ranked their January signings using their performance on the Squawka Score.

6. Juma Bah

Position: Centre-back

Signed from: Real Valladolid

Squawka Score: 52%

He’s not the biggest name, but Juma Bah is certainly the most controversial signing Man City made in January. The 18-year-old arrived from La Liga side Real Valladolid. However, the Spaniards accused City of encouraging the player to break his contract so they could sign him for a lower fee.

On the pitch, Bah — who has gone from playing in Sierra Leone to signing for the English champions in six months — played 865 minutes in La Liga for Valladolid, averaging 6.15 clearances, 3.23 aerial duels won and 2.6 possessions won in the defensive third per 90 minutes.

Bah was immediately loaned to Lens after signing for City and made his debut as a late substitute in a 2-0 win over Montpellier.

5. Christian McFarlane

Christian McFarlane is actually the first player to complete the New York to Manchester pathway in the City Football Group. However, at 18 years old, he’s very much one for the future; City are pretty set at left-back with Josko Gvardiol, after all.

However, McFarlane is capped 18 times for England and three times for the United States across various youth levels, so there’s plenty to be excited about long-term.

4. Abdukodir Khusanov

One of the reasons Lens wanted to take Bah on loan is that they’d just seen their own centre-back starlet, Abdukodir Khusanov, move to City.

The first-ever Uzbek to play in the Premier League, Khusanov’s Man City debut didn’t exactly go to plan, making an error leading to a goal within three minutes in the 3-1 win over Chelsea. He then had to watch on as an unused substitute as City were thumped 5-1 by Arsenal.

However, Khusanov’s Squawka Score of 61% is the fifth-highest among centre-backs aged 20 and under in Europe’s top five leagues this season. There’s plenty to like about this youngster, who should become a City stalwart in time.

3. Nico Gonzalez

It was their very last deal to go through, but Nico Gonzalez might well turn out to be Man City’s most important acquisition of the winter.

The Spaniard — formerly of Barcelona — arrives having run Porto’s midfield for the past 18 months and will be expected to do just the same at the Etihad in place of the injured Rodri.

Although he shares some attributes with his compatriot, Gonzalez also has a fondness for getting forward, shown by his five goals and three assists in Primeira Liga play this season before leaving Porto.

At just 23 years old, Gonzalez might well go on to emulate the likes of Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva as Manchester City midfield legends.

2. Vitor Reis

City really weren’t messing about when it came to future-proofing their centre-back spot, with Vitor Reis their third such signing of the winter.

Just 19 years old, he arrives with just 22 senior matches under his belt with Palmeiras. But during that time, he clocked up an impressive Squawka Score of 65%, fuelled by making 4.76 clearances and 1.73 tackles per 90, as well as averaging 89.18% pass completion.

1. Omar Marmoush

Omar Marmoush is the one that has excited City fans the most and with good reason, given his Squawka Score this season comes in at a whopping 85%.

That’s because the Egyptian striker — who can also play as a winger — notched 15 goals and nine assists in 17 Bundesliga appearances before leaving Eintracht Frankfurt, with only Harry Kane (25) registering more direct goal involvements in the German top-flight.

It’s been a slow start at City for Marmoush, who is yet to score or assist in his two appearances so far. But we’re confident he’ll be a hit at the Etihad once he finds his feet.

What are Squawka’s ratings based on?

We used Twenty3 Sport’s Discovery Tool to run a customised search. The Discovery Tool rates a player’s per 90 output in the metrics detailed below to produce a percentage score, referred to above as the Squawka Score.

Each player’s stats are compared to the average output of goalkeepers across the past three seasons of big-five European league football. The higher the score, the closer they rank to the 95th percentile and above for each metric.