🦁 PL Previews: Can Man City go from the treble to four in a row? | OneFootball

Manchester City pretty much completed football in 2022/23, winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

So, what now?

See all of our club previews right here.

Transfers 🔁

In: Joško Gvardiol (RB Leipzig, £78m), Mateo Kovačić (Chelsea, £25m),

Out: Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahli, £30m), James Trafford (Burnley, £15m), Shea Charles (Southampton, £15m), Carlos Borges (Ajax, £12.1m), Yangel Herrera (Girona, undisclosed), Ilkay Gündogan (Barcelona, free), Issa Kaboré (Luton, loan), Callum Doyle (Leicster, loan), Liam Delap (Hull, loan), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (Reims, loan)

Transfer balance: -£30.5m

Key fixtures 📆

🔑 Key player: Rodri

You probably think it’s weird that we have overlooked the man who scored 36 goals in his first Premier League campaign and yeah, you’re right, it is weird.

But Rodri makes the team tick, click and any other onomatopoeic clichés you want to use to express the fact he knits it all together.

A bedrock in the heart of the team, the Spaniard has an imposing figure that dominates the middle of the park with his passing range the perfect foil to get City on the attack quickly or completely control the tempo of the game.

The 27-year-old is press-resistant and as we saw in the Champions League semi-final and final, can step up with a big goal when needed.

Erling Haaland is extraordinary, Kevin De Bruyne’s creativity is unrivalled, but if Rodri was to get injured then City might struggle to suffocate opponents in the way they do currently.

What has changed since last season? 🤔

İlkay Gündoğan and Riyad Mahrez left with the former having been replaced by Kovačić but there’s no sign the latter will be as of yet, with Cole Palmer staking a claim with his stunning goal in the Community Shield on Sunday.

Gvardiol’s arrival and the apparent lack of desire to reintegrate João Cancelo suggests that Pep Guardiola is going to persist with the John Stones-operating-as-a-midfielder system but a lot could still change between now and the end of the transfer window.

Kyle Walker’s future remains in doubt with an offer on the table from Bayern Munich but no sign of an agreement between the two clubs, while Bernardo Silva continues to be linked with a move away.

There could still be some change at the Etihad this summer, so watch this space.

Predicted XI 🔮

(4-3-3) – Ederson; Akanji, Stones, Dias, Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Kovačić; B, Silva, Haaland, Grealish.

Where will they finish? 🏆

Premier League: Champions

Champions League: Semi-finalists

FA Cup: Winners

EFL Cup: Semi-finalists

See all of our club previews right here.