Man City trio ‘definitely leaving’ during Guardiola ‘rebuild’ as ‘ageing’ stars may be in ‘final year’
Three Manchester City stars have been tipped ‘to quit’ during Pep Guardiola’s “rebuild” as the 2024/25 campaign “may be their final year”.
Man City are going through a bit of a crisis as they have lost five games in a row across all competitions.
Guardiola is sorely missing Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, but most of their star players look spent and appear to be in serious need of prolonged rest.
The Premier League holders had been expected to bounce back against Tottenham on Saturday evening following the morale-boosting news of Guardiola penning a contract extension.
Man City had a bright start to the game against Spurs and should have taken the lead inside the opening ten minutes. But Ange Postecoglou’s side managed to weather the storm and took the lead in the 13th minute.
A devilish cross by Dejan Kulusevski was met by James Maddison, who calmly converted past Ederson. Tottenham grew in confidence from this point and doubled their lead shortly after as the England international capitalised on some sloppy defending to score his and his side’s second.
Spurs were comfortably the better side and defended superbly to keep Man City at bay. They extended their lead after the interval as Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson scored in their statement 4-0 win.
Guardiola is expected to oversee a major rebuild at the Etihad as it would be a huge surprise if they won the Premier League this season. They are currently eighth in the form table.
Following their latest setback, Man City’s former financial advisor – Stefan Borson – has tipped Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan ‘to quit’ as they ‘will definitely leave the club within the next two years’.
“I think Guardiola’s contract is good for the stability because to try and have succession issues at the director of football level and also the first-team coach level is a very difficult thing to manage and negotiate,” Borson told Football Insider.
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“City will at least now know that only one is changing at each time, so they will have the opportunity for Hugo Viana to work together with Guardiola and the rest of the team to really rebuild over the next two years.
“I think there are a number of players who are ageing. Walker, De Bruyne and Gundogan in particular.
“These will be the final two years on any basis of those players. It may even be the final year, but they definitely won’t see out more than two years. That phase of the rebuild can be done with Guardiola in place.”
