Man City expected to sell ’10 players’ before signing any after Guardiola resignation ultimatum
Football finance expert Stefan Borson has suggested that Manchester City could sell 10 players before signing any in order to keep Pep Guardiola happy, and safe from quitting.
City finished third in the Premier League this season. They came back from a difficult middle part of the season, in which it looked like they could miss out on the Champions League entirely.
City used 32 players across all competitions, and Guardiola recently complained that he has too many players to pick from, with his solution an explosive one.
“I said to the club, ‘I don’t want that’, I don’t want to put five, six players in the tribune, I don’t want that. I will quit. If they don’t make a short squad, I will not stay,” he said.
Football finance expert Borson feels City could cull a few players before signing anybody this summer in order to keep Guardiola happy.
“It won’t have come out of the blue. I think the situation is that because the squad is now effectively fully fit aside from John Stones, he’s got about five players who can’t even get on the bench,” he told Football Insider.
“Obviously, he doesn’t like dealing with that. That’s too many players, but it’s not normal that you would have your fully-fit squad.
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“The problem that they’ve got is they bought four players in January and, on top of that, they’ve probably had two or three players come through the youth system into the team in [Nico] O’Reilly and players like that.
“The squad has become a little bit bloated and the challenge will be removing let’s say 10 players. That will not be straightforward.
“So, selling or loaning 10 players could be before you start signing new players. We will see in the summer. I think it is a challenge. He’s obviously not going to resign, and City will do what he wants to do. If he wants a smaller squad, City will give him a smaller squad.”
Kevin De Bruyne is leaving at the end of his contract, and there is speculation over the futures of some other players, namely Jack Grealish, who has interest from big clubs and was left out of the City squad for their final game of the season.
It remains to be seen who, or how many, members of the City squad are indeed sold.
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