Pep Guardiola's defining year? Man City preparing for title defence and planning transfers despite looming court case Trending Global News

Manchester City will head into the new season aiming to continue their dominance in the Premier League with a fifth consecutive title in what could prove to be a defining year for Pep Guardiola.

The City manager’s future at the club is uncertain as he enters the final year of his contract and there remains uncertainty off the field too, as his court case for 115 charges brought against him by the Premier League has been pushed forward until next month.

What is the mood at the club with the impending court case? What is the latest on Guardiola’s future? And after pocketing £82m for Julian Alvarez, what are his plans for the rest of the transfer window? Sky Sports News Reporter Ben Ransom gives detailed information on this ahead of their first match against Chelsea, watch live Sky Sports On Sunday.

City want Pep to stay, but future uncertain

There is no doubt that the club would want to keep Pep. The board believes they not only have the best manager in the club’s history, but one of the best in the world.

City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak confirmed in the summer that he would hold further talks with Guardiola in a bid to persuade him to sign another contract extension, which would take him beyond a ninth season at the Etihad.

However, Guardiola himself has admitted that he cannot stay at City forever and at some point he will wake up and decide he either needs a break or a new challenge.

At the end of last season, Pep told us all that he was “closer to leaving than staying” – although the comment itself carries a pleasant ambiguity, and when I asked him about his future plans last week, he admitted he still hadn’t decided what he wanted to do.

His ambition is to manage a national team, and there will be those in the Football Association who dream that he will choose a World Cup campaign with England over the potentially more lucrative team of Brazil.

What we can be certain of is that if Guardiola does decide to move on at the end of the season, it will not be a decision taken lightly.

Succession plans in motion

I remember speaking to a City executive after Guardiola’s second Premier League title win who told me that, even at that time, the understanding was that they wouldn’t be able to keep Guardiola forever, and that they were already having to think about his successor.

I’m sure the names that were considered in the summer of 2019 will be very different to those being considered now, but this does give some insight into the need for those at the top of a football club to plan for every potential situation, including replacing the manager they built an empire around.

City would not want any uncertainty to arise at the club that could derail the unprecedented era of success it finds itself in.

It is being said that City want a decision from Guardiola by Christmas so they can begin the process of finding the right person to take over.

Even if he decides to stay for another year or two, it will only delay the inevitable decision that the board will have to take.

Court case looms over 115 charges

We learned this week that the case is finally set to begin next month, 18 months after the Premier League levelled 115 individual charges against City of breaching the competition’s financial rules.

It is not a quick process either, with submissions expected to last around 10 weeks with both City and the Premier League making lengthy submissions to the independent commission.

After this, the Commission will have to consider all the evidence provided on each charge before making their decision, so we won’t know their decision until the end of the 2024/25 season.

It is certain that all parties want the allegations to be settled once and for all.

City have always denied any wrongdoing and hoped to be exonerated through the process, but a cloud of trouble has hung over the club ever since. Der Spiegel Having published leaked emails and information alleging financial improprieties, Citi has always maintained that the emails were obtained illegally.

UEFA’s investigation did not result in any specific punishment for the club, while an appeal against a two-year ban from the Champions League was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the club accepted a 10 million euro fine for non-compliance.

It’s worth noting that the time limit had expired for many of the allegations to be included in UEFA’s decision, while that is not the case with the Premier League’s investigation.

Two players were needed after the record sale of Alvarez

City are not only the best team in the Premier League, but they are also the benchmark when it comes to player trades.

They have made a profit of around £130million this summer – with the bulk of that boosted by the club-record £82million transfer fee to sign Alvarez from Atletico Madrid.

Even more money is expected to come in by the end of this window, with Kalvin Phillips attracting Premier League interest, and Joao Cancelo also on the ‘transfer list’ after falling out of favour.

Although they are very happy with the shape of the squad ahead of the new season, City are aiming to add two players to the squad before the end of the month if they can find the right players.

A central midfielder could also be included to take the load off Rodrygo, who played 4,326 minutes last season before winning the Euros with Spain.

His importance to the team is reflected in the fact that he played more minutes than any of his City team-mates last season but, by his own admission, he was exhausted as a result.

With Alvarez gone, the squad is left without a natural striker as backup to Erling Haaland, so this is another position City want to strengthen.

However, the challenge is to find someone who is good enough to be in the squad and who is happy to play on the bench most weeks. It reminds me of the difficulty Tottenham had finding a back-up for Harry Kane when he was a guaranteed starter there.

Guardiola told us last week that he hopes to be able to find players to fill those two roles, but stressed that City would only enter the market for the “right price”.

That is easier said than done, as he admits his huge profits could become a hindrance at the negotiating table, with clubs rolling out the “red carpet” for cash-rich buyers who are selling.

Ederson and De Bruyne stay on the pitch

If City had to plan for life without their two most important senior players their instinctive approach to summer recruitment would be very different, but Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne remain firmly in their places.

Ederson was heavily courted by at least two Saudi clubs this summer but, despite being offered a potentially lucrative contract to move to the Middle East, the transfer fee never came close to City’s valuation of him and the deal never went ahead.

The Brazilian goalkeeper said that after talks with people at the club, particularly Guardiola, he is committed to “spending more years at City”.

De Bruyne is entering the final year of his contract, but Guardiola has remained firm in his stance that the Belgian has no future anywhere this summer.

City in good shape, Savinho brings excitement

City are once again the team to beat this season, and it is no surprise that bookmakers have them as favourites to win a fifth consecutive Premier League title.

The return of Rodri and the England contingent this week after a long break following the Euro 2024 finals means they are at full strength, although Guardiola will use the opening weeks of the season to get those players back up to speed.

Meanwhile, players like Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis can be relied upon to earn a place in the first team, having impressed in the pre-season tour of the USA and the Community Shield win over Manchester United.

Bob’s emergence following the departure of Alvarez is particularly timely, and the young Norwegian has the opportunity to stake a genuine claim for a more significant role in the first team as competition for places increases in the coming weeks.

Haaland is fully fit and well rested following his summer break, so he will be looking to start the season strongly after scoring a number of goals in pre-season.

The only negative from City’s point of view is the unfortunate injury to Jack Grealish, who was using his disappointment at the Euros as motivation to return to Guardiola’s first-choice side.

He has shown a new hunger and intensity throughout pre-season, so it would be a huge blow for him to find himself sidelined again.

Personally, I’m excited to see what Guardiola does with Savinho, who performed brilliantly as an old-fashioned left-footed left winger for Girona last season.

During his tenure Pep has tended to use inverted wingers who can cut in and shoot onto their stronger foot, but at Wembley, Savinho resumed that role on the left and put in some dangerous crosses towards Haaland, who is as much of a traditional target man as you could imagine.

It will be interesting to see if Pep creates a system that includes traditional wingers (perhaps even Jeremy Doku playing on the right at times) or how effective Savinho can be if he is sent to the opposite flank and allowed to cut in from the right and attack goal straight with his left foot.

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