Grading every Manchester City player this season based on their performances | OneFootball

Despite securing Champions League qualification, it was ultimately a disappointing campaign for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola endured just the second trophy-less season of his managerial career.

Injuries played a huge part in City’s struggles. At one stage, they lost five games in a row and won just one out of thirteen matches.

However, their season was still not an abject failure. City were able to recover their league form and finished in third place. They also reached the FA Cup final, though they were defeated 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Wembley.

Here we’ve graded ever City player’s season and assessed whether they had a good one, or not so good…

Ederson: B+

Ederson was not bad, but not amazing. He recorded a pretty impressive tally of four assists in the league, which is already impressive as a goalkeeper but even more so given he missed a third of the games with injury.

Stefan Ortega: B-

Ortega looked more like a number two when he played this season than in previous seasons. He was not assured of himself but still did okay.

Ruben Dias: A-

Dias was not always at his best throughout the season but he is still City’s most important and best defender. The defence clearly lacks leadership in his absence.

John Stones: C

Unfortunately, we have barely seen Stones this season. He scored a pair of significant goals against Arsenal and Wolves early in the season. However, his inability to stay fit is becoming a huge problem.

Nathan Ake: C+

Another player hampered by injuries. Ake played slightly more than Stones but still missed the vast majority of games.

Josko Gvardiol: A+

Gvardiol played more minutes than anyone else for City this season and he was a standout performer. His form dipped slightly in autumn but he returned to his best since then, and was key to City’s Champions League qualification.

Manuel Akanji: C+

Akanji was not at the levels that he hit in previous seasons. With others absent, there were plenty of moments where City could have done with him stepping up as a senior defender. However, he never did and seemed to shy away in those moments, and also suffered with injury himself too.

Abdukodir Khusanov: B

After arriving in January, Khusanov had a nightmare start at City but turned things around pretty quickly. He has struggled to nail down a place in the starting line-up though.

Kyle Walker: C-

Struggling with injuries or not, Walker was one of City’s worst performers in the first half of the season. He then asked to leave, and was granted his wish when he was loaned out to AC Milan.

Rico Lewis: B

Lewis started the season really well but his form tailed off as he was forced to play almost every game. Did not feature much in the second half of the season, but he looked good when he did.

Nico O’Reilly: A

The youngster broke into the first team and his impressive performances made him a regular in the side for a month straight. One of the true positives for City to take from this season.

Matheus Nunes: B

Nunes would surely have been heading for the exit this summer if not for his recent form. Reimagined as a right-back, he played a significant role in City’s Champions League qualification.

Nico Gonzalez: B

Signed in January, many expected the Spanish midfielder would walk into Guardiola’s starting line-up. Although that did not happen, he did show plenty of flashes of why he was signed.

Mateo Kovacic: A-

For long periods, Kovacic was shouldered with the responsibility of replacing Rodri. Although he was not always perfect, he was great in moments and had a pretty good season overall.

Ilkay Gundogan: B-

Re-signed on a free from Barcelona, for many months it looked like City had made an awful mistake. Gundogan never expected to play as many games as he was required to and his form suffered as a result. Despite this, his class did start to show in the final months of the season.

Bernardo Silva: B-

Another player that played more minutes than perhaps they should have, Silva looked exhausted for long stretches of the season.

Kevin De Bruyne: B+

De Bruyne was also no longer at his best and that was clear on many occasions. Despite that, he still had the ability to turn it on and single-handedly win matches for City in his final season with the club.

Phil Foden: B

Coming off the back of such an incredible 2023/24 campaign, expectations were high for Foden. However, he simply never got going. Whether the issue was physical, mental or a combination of both, Foden never really looked like himself this season.

Jeremy Doku: B-

Doku’s season was also affected by injuries and he did not have much of a run in the team. At times he can look unstoppable but there is still a lack of consistency.

Savinho: B+

Savinho had a pretty good debut season in the Premier League and his eight assists were unbeaten at City. He was the Blues’ best player for some time in winter, although his form did dip towards the end of the season.

Jack Grealish: C

Grealish endured another underwhelming campaign. Frequent injuries prevented him from finding any form and you start to wonder whether the writing may be on the wall now for his City career.

James McAtee: C+

Mostly limited to cameos off the bench, McAtee did manage to score three times and although he looked good in moments, the youngster never did enough to force his way into the starting line-up regularly.

Omar Marmoush: A-

Marmoush joined in January for a large fee and with large expectations, and he has matched them so far. He has been lively and dangerous since his arrival, and looks like money well spent.

Erling Haaland: A-

The Norwegian missed out on the Golden Boot for the first time since his arrival in the Premier League. It could be deemed a disappointing season by his high standards. However, Haaland still scored 31 goals in all competitions and was hugely important to City.