Pep Guardiola had a very strong squad cleanup in the summer of 2017 when he had just arrived at the Etihad. Wilfried Bony, Kelechi thinganacho, Samir Nasri, Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito were sold. Fernando, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Willy Caballero, Pablo distleta and Jesus Navas have been released from their contracts. Joe Hart was loaned out in the final year of his contract and only Yaya Toure was given a contract extension.
It was an unprecedented clearance in Man City's Premier League history, but in return, they had a team that won the Premier League 6 times, won the treble in 2023, along with many titles, even owning a Ballon d'Or in the Rodri squad.
This time, after a period of success and starting to part ways with many key players, most recently Kevin De Bruyne, it is time for a summer similar to 2017 to begin for Pep Guardiola.
Pep's human resource development strategy is clearly outlined to be able to go to school. He always sets a goal of having 2/3 of the squad be personnel in the potential stage and reaching maturity. To be inheritable, a position never appears with two players in the same stage of career development. Thanks to that, after the first season without a trophy with The Citizens, Pep has the best conditions in hand.
After parting ways with a series of personnel in the summer of 2017, Pep also welcomed them back quite a few times. Ederson, Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Danilo and Bernardo Silva arrived, along with John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, todayy Sane and Gabriel Jesus. Aymeric Laporte arrived later but also arrived at the Etihad in January 2018.
Man City's squad immediately reduced their average age to 25 and always had 2 people for one position to ensure inheritance. Pep is always balanced in each starting lineup, the experience, youth, young players, and stars who are starting to decline in their careers are intertwined.
Another of Pep Guardiola's strengths is constantly renewing himself and the team's personnel. If Pep had not changed continuously in the past 8 years, he would never have won the Premier League 6 times in 7 seasons.
Returning to last season, when seeing the team empty-handed and leaving many disappointing performances, president Khaldoon Al Mubarak said Man City should have been "more enthusiastic" in the summer transfer market in 2024. However, those changes did not come at the Etihad. When witnessing an un Saving achievement, a tough recruitment came in the winter when Man City welcomed 4 new players. At this time of summer, before the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, they have just welcomed 4 new players.
The average age of the squad continues to decrease and Pep has no secret to wanting to build another golden dynasty from these stars in their twenties. When Kevin De Bruyne was about to expire, Man City also opened the door for him to leave, the upcoming person being Jack Grealish. Pep wants to open up opportunities for his close veterans to have a new destination, and also an opportunity to eliminate members who are disciplinary and no longer meet expectations like Grealish.
Pep has had a successful time with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but he has never had to start building a new generation like now with Man City. This is also an opportunity for Pep to prove that he is capable enough to compare with Sir Alex Ferguson, who has done this continuously in more than 26 years leading Man United.
Before considering the Champions League, Man City's immediate task is to overthrow Liverpool and Arsenal to reclaim the Premier League throne next season.
