Manchester City’s New Signings Mark New Era In Pep Guardiola’s Tenure

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak vowed the club would be “aggressive” in this summer window after ending last season empty-handed.

So far, City has lived up to al-Mubarak’s words and then some.

In nine days since the transfer window opened, City has already completed the signings of AC Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for £46.3m ($62.7m) and Wolverhampton left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri for £31m ($42m).

A deal for Olympique Lyon attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki, meanwhile, has been all but finalized.

As per The Athletic, Cherki will move to England for £33.7m ($45.6m).

City must register their new signings by 7pm BST (2pm EST) on Tuesday to have them available for the Club World Cup, which begins next week.

The significance of City’s spending spree is two-fold. First and foremost, it comes with a verdict into alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules still hanging over the club.

In February 2023, City was formally charged with breaking financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018 and with failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations into their finances.

The club’s hearing in the case against the Premier League began on September 16 last year and ran until December 6 in front of a three-person independent commission in London.

Back in February, Pep Guardiola admitted he expected the verdict “within a month”.

His forecast has proved to be wide of the mark, with the commission yet to return a judgment six months after the hearing ended.

By comparison, it took UEFA just two days to find City guilty of financial manipulation in January 2020, a verdict which was subsequently overturned on appeal.

With a judgment still pending, City has wasted no time in reshaping its squad after spending $245m on players in the January transfer window.

Omar Marmoush joined from Eintrach Frankfurt, while Savinho and Nico Gonzalez arrived from Troyes and Porto for respectively and centre-back Abdukodir Kushanov signed from Lens.

The spending spree was not enough to prevent City from finishing without any silverware for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Guardiola’s first campaign in the Premier League.

City has won the Premier League six times in the past eight seasons, but finished third 13 points behind eventual champions Liverpool last season and never looked like retaining its crown.

The Champions League brought an elimination at the hands of Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and there was heartbreak in the FA Cup final for the second consecutive year with defeat to Cyrstal Palace.

In that respect, the arrivals of Reijnders, Aït-Nouri and Chekri point to a clear desire to refresh the squad.

Reijnders can be the answer to City’s midfield issues

Despite the $67.8m arrival of Gonzalez from Porto in January, City’s midfield lack of physicality and running power was badly exposed both domestically and in Europe.

The issue was exacerbated by the absences of reigning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, and Mateo Kovacic.

Reijnders’ arrival should go some way towards addressing the lack of dynamism in City’s engine room.

The Dutch international was arguably AC Milan’s player of the season, with 10 goals and four assists in Serie A. Among midfielders, only Scott McTominay, had more goal involvements with 16.

City’s new signing, who turns 27 next month, also ranked fifth for through balls and ninth for forward passes in Serie A last season.

Milan signed Reijnders from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 for $22.8m, but he netted only four goals in 50 appearances across all competitions – a figure that should have been much higher.

When he met him in Saudi Arabia in January for the Italian Super Cup, former Milan manager Stefano Pioli teased him about his frequent shots off target.

Twelve months on, Reijnders found the same promising positions but now with newfound composure, leading to a significant increase in his goal tally.

His shots on target more than tripled last season (from 0.25 to 0.87 per match), while his conversion rate more than doubled, soaring from 10% to 23%.

With Kevin De Bruyne leaving the Etihad Stadium as a free agent after 10 trophy-laden years and Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva approaching the winter of their careers, Reijnders could become a key figure in City’s midfield.

Is Aït-Nouri the answer for City at left-back?

Just like the Dutchman, Aït-Nouri’s arrival addresses a glaring weakness in Guardiola’s squad.

According to Opta stats, in the season just ended among defenders only Trent Alexander Arnold had more goal involvements per 90 minutes than Aït-Nouri, with 0.34 to 0.32 respectively.

The prototypical modern full-back, who can use his athleticism to burst forward and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, the Algeria international is a versatile player.

Aït-Nouri played at left wing-back under Vitor Pereira following the Portuguese’s arrival at Wolves in December.

Pereira switched between a five-man defense and a 3-4-3 formation, with the 24-year-old operating as an attacking wing-back in both circumstances.

The Algeria international played in the same role under Gary O’Neill, Pereira’s predecessor, when he was also deployed further forward as a left midfielder.

A French maverick for Guardiola

But of the trio of signings, it is arguably Cherki who is the most intriguing.

The 21-year-old is coming off a breakout season, with 12 goals and 20 assists in all competitions and made his France debut last week, scoring in the 5-4 defeat against Spain in the Nations League semi-final.

Cherki also scored in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United and was named in the Europa League Team of the Season.

Data from Opta shows he outperformed City’s attacking midfielders – Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Savinho – in all but one category last season, shots per 90 minutes.

Cherki and Doku both took 2.2 shots per game, while Savinho and Foden took 2.8 and 3.0 respectively.

The Frenchman, however, led the quartet in goals per 90 minutes with a 0.4 figure, compared to Foden and Doku’s 0.3 and Savinho’s 0.1.

Cherki’s 0.6 assists per game were the high watermark in the category, when compared with Doku’s 0.4, Savinho’s 0.3 and Foden’s 0.2 and he was also significant better in terms of creating opportunities.

The Lyon midfielder set up 3.7 chances per 90 minutes, comfortably ahead of Savinho and Foden with 2.3 and Doku with 2.1.

A versatile player who can operate either as attacking midfielder or on the wing, Cherki is gifted with superb technique and looks ready to fill the void left by De Bruyne.

Former Arsenal striker and current CBS analyst Thierry Henry said he has “never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him”.

High praise indeed. The Premier League has been warned.