Pep Guardiola set to reunite with on-loan defender who has never played for Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City’s on-loan full back Issa Kabore is set for a summer return to the Etihad Stadium when he ends his ongoing loan spell at Werder Bremen, as per a new report.

The four-in-a-row Premier League winners are expected to invest in various departments of the first-team squad after a sub-par season that has seen Pep Guardiola’s side fail to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League titles.

Kevin De Bruyne is set to leave in the summer – though exactly when hasn’t been confirmed ahead of Manchester City’s participation in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States between June and July.

Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Matheus Nunes and at least one of City’s crop of injury-riddled centre backs could all leave at the end of the season as part of a major squad revamp to challenge on all fronts next term.

Hugo Viana has started work in Manchester and as the Portuguese prepares to take over from current director of football Txiki Begiristain, he is believed to be conducting a thorough audit of Guardiola’s squad before City make a series of acquisitions in the summer transfer window.

A full-back and a potent replacement for the outgoing De Bruyne are understood to be priority for officials at the Etihad Stadium, who have been reported to hold a strong interest in Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso.

According to Bild, Manchester City’s on-loan defender Issa Kabore is set for a return to England when he finishes the latest of a series of loan spells – this one at Werder Bremen – since his arrival to England in 2020, as relayed by Sport Witness.

The Burkina Faso international has struggled for minutes for the German outfit in recent months and Werder Bremer head of first team football Peter Niemeyer expects the full-back to return to his parent club in the summer.

“There’s fierce competition. Not just for starting spots. Getting into the matchday squad is also an issue. The (Kabore) situation remains unchanged. For now, it’s a loan deal, which we’ll put a stop to after the season. Then we can reassess the situation,” said Niemeyer.

Kabore is contracted at Manchester City till the summer of 2027 and another loan spell could be on the cards for the full-back – who could also decide to leave the 2023 treble winners should he seek a permanent move to get his career up and running past the summer.