Manchester City’s bloated squad leaves Pep Guardiola facing tough transfer choices | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola isn’t quitting. He wasn’t in the worst run of results in his managerial career and he won’t, even if Manchester City fail to get the point on Sunday that would earn them a 15th successive season in the Champions League. He won’t, despite his rather exaggerated choice of words on Tuesday when he said the size of his squad would make him walk away. Guardiola being Guardiola, he was complaining he had too many players, not too few.

But there will be departures from the Etihad Stadium this summer. Guardiola is preparing for a clearout. He has a squad of 26; too many, he says, when all bar the injured John Stones and the suspended Mateo Kovacic are available for Sunday’s trip to Fulham. He has had to dispense too much bad news recently, to omit too many players from matchday squads.

“The last three weeks or a month, [leaving] four, five, six players at home,” he said. “That is not healthy; for any of us, for them especially, for the club, me, anyone. The club knows it and the club completely agrees with me, so we're going to find the best way for all of us.”

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Pep Guardiola will need to get rid of several squad players (PA Wire)

Which means players leaving and so far, only Kevin De Bruyne definitely is. Whereas, in theory, anyway, their group will be two bigger when two players return from loans, even if Kalvin Phillips hardly has a future at the Etihad Stadium. Kyle Walker may not, either, even if that could partly be from choice.

But if City want to bring in, say, three signings, that could necessitate a cull: perhaps three in would mean eight out, including the unwanted Phillips. Certainly there is scope for a creative attacking midfielder to take over some of De Bruyne’s duties. If Walker does not return and is rehabilitated, a specialist right-back would seem logical; perhaps, given the veteran’s age, it makes sense to sign one even if he does come back. Perhaps, depending on where Josko Gvardiol is used, an out-and-out left-back may be wanted.

So decisions beckon for City. Informing the discarded, Guardiola argued, will not be difficult. “Never is [it] awkward when it's honest conversations, never, ever,” he insisted. “It belongs to the club, the club will take the conversations with the agents and players who maybe come or maybe leave.”

The vulnerable include those who have slipped down the pecking order or find themselves in parts of the squad that are overstocked. It won’t be Erling Haaland going; because of his nine-year contract, his 30 goals but also because there are no other specialist strikers. Nor Rodri, and not merely because of his Ballon d’Or and huge importance: the January buy Nico Gonzalez is the only other out-and-out defensive midfielder.

But there are areas with a surfeit of players. Guardiola now has seven centre-backs: some of them versatile, two January signings, but surely too many. It may make sense to loan out Vitor Reis if he is nowhere near the team. Ruben Dias and Gvardiol seem the safest of all. Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji, all of a certain age, all with seasons interrupted by injuries, all starters in a Champions League final two years ago, could wonder if there remains room for each.

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John Stones could yet be an option to be sold (Getty Images)

Then there is Guardiola’s battalion of wingers: not all pure wide men, but each capable of playing on one flank and, in many cases, both. Bernardo Silva could be deemed indispensable, the January arrival Omar Marmoush too, and the hope is Phil Foden can return to his best after an off-year with an ankle injury and off-field issues. That still leaves Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, James McAtee, Savinho, Oscar Bobb and Claudio Echeverri.

Last summer, the sense was that Bobb would have a breakthrough season, only to be sidelined. Echeverri is a recent arrival. At 22, McAtee perhaps needs to move on. Approaching his 30th birthday, after a second successive mediocre season, Grealish surely needs to.

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Jack Grealish’s future looks incredibly uncertain (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

In the centre of midfield, Rodri’s return, Nico Gonzalez’s arrival, a potential De Bruyne replacement and the probability Silva’s future lies in the middle could squeeze someone out. Ilkay Gundogan’s new one-year deal could mean it isn’t him; or would decline mean he is best served leaving? Then there is the question of the odd-job men. Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly may covet central roles but it does not mean they will be granted them. Matheus Nunes is the midfielder Guardiola rarely trusts to play in the centre of midfield. Get a right-back and it may make sense to let him go.

A final category may be of those going by choice, when in the team. It may not apply to many, but Ederson could be an anomaly, albeit one who would then necessitate a signing.

But those nearer the back of the queue are likelier departures. The theme of Guardiola’s best squads is quality, not quantity: relatively small groups can still be very expensive, but underpinned by the fitness and flexibility to mean he does not need huge numbers of back-ups. “I don’t want players at home with their families when the team is playing,” Guardiola said. So that means dispensing a few unpleasant truths; to tell players their time at City is up.