Guardiola’s hilarious ‘four areas of concern’ lead to incredible £120m January triple swoop plans
Pep Guardiola is planning a £120m January transfer binge after privately admitting a Manchester City summer mistake and identifying ‘four areas of concern’.
Manchester City have made an absolute hash of their latest Premier League title defence as the champions are 10th in the Premier League form table and not faring much better overall in 2024/25.
Two wins in 14 games have left them 14 points behind leaders Liverpool having played one match more than the Reds, while they are barely clinging onto a place in the Champions League knockout phase play-offs.
Ambitious January transfer window plans have thus been hatched in an effort to rescue their season as Guardiola has been forced to ‘accept he needs more numbers to call upon’ in light of their injury crisis, despite his preference of working with a smaller squad.
Guardiola and outgoing sporting director Txiki Begiristain are ‘keen to address three or four areas of concern’ according to the Daily Mail, who claim the club will focus on recruiting in ‘central midfield, at the back and a forward’ over the next transfer windows.
Just the entire squad aside from goalkeeper then.
Two players are named as options: Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush and Ederson, the Atalanta midfielder.
In the case of Marmoush, a known Arsenal and Liverpool target who Nottingham Forest had bids rejected for in the summer, Manchester City admire his ‘versatility’ and a record of 18 goals and 12 assists in 24 games for a side behind only Bayern Munich and Leverkusen in the Bundesliga cannot hurt.
Ederson’s ‘energy’ is cited as a particular quality, with the two-cap international possibly capable of galvanising a creaking midfield.
Both are 25 and would fill clear gaps in the squad: the Manchester City first team contains nine players aged 30 or over and as many aged 22 or under, with only Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias and Rodri falling between the more common prime ages of 24-28.
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But Guardiola realises signing either Marmoush or Ederson ‘will be no easy feat in the middle of a campaign’, particularly with Frankfurt battling for Champions League qualification and Atalanta top of Serie A, seeking their first top-flight title.
It is reported elsewhere that both players would cost at least £50m each, but Guardiola ‘has admitted that any new faces will serve to at least freshen the place up’.
In terms of defensive targets, Abdukodir Khusanov has emerged as an option but that was previously seen as a move which would be made in the summer.
The continued battle with injuries has seen Manchester City ‘consider accelerating plans’ and weigh up a January bid, however, if the Manchester Evening News is to be believed.
Khusanov, an 18-cap Uzbekistan international centre-half has impressed for Lens this season and has been valued at around £20m.
