Manchester City would have been watching the Premier League results coming in on Saturday with glee, especially when Arsenal shockingly collapsed to a 2-1 defeat at home to AFC Bournemouth.
That surprise loss at the Emirates means Pep Guardiola's men - off the back of downing Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Friday night - are only three points off matching the Gunners in second spot, meaning the rest of May could be a fight now to see who is second best to Arne Slot's runaway Liverpool.
kevin-de-bruyne-man-city
With an FA Cup trophy also potentially in their hands, this season, once written off as a misfire, might well have some positives after all, with some big buys in the summer boosting City's chances of becoming Premier League title challengers again.
Man City close in on big-money target
Guardiola and Co have been linked to a whole host of names as the 2024/25 campaign begins to wind down, with the main face dominating conversation being Bayer Leverkusen superstar Florian Wirtz.
According to reports, Bayern Munich are also interested, meaning City would have to pursue alternative targets in the midfield areas, with the likes of Gabriel Sara also reportedly on their radar.
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But, a different path could be explored by the serial winners shortly, with a new report by journalist Graeme Bailey revealing that long-standing City target Morgan Gibbs-White is contemplating his future at Nottingham Forest.
Both Liverpool and Newcastle United are also keen to add the 25-year-old attacking midfielder to their rosters, but it remains to be seen which club would be willing to splash out the mammoth £100m asking price to land the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers man.
Whether or not City want to pay that price, according to Fabrizio Romano on Sunday, the Citizens are planning to advance their efforts to sign the Englishman soon.
After all, City have already seen what Gibbs-White is capable of when he assisted this sweet strike versus them back in March, with the potential here for the two-time England international to strike up a fierce relationship with Erling Haaland up top.
How Gibbs-White could get more out of Haaland
The Nordic goal machine does have his deficiencies when it comes to long spells out of the side with injury, but when he's at the peak of his powers and purring in front of goal, there are few attackers better than the 24-year-old in world football.
Overall this season, Haaland finds himself on a blistering 30 strikes from 40 clashes, with 21 of those coming in the bread and butter of the Premier League, even when City have regularly found themselves off the boil.
Therefore, throwing in Gibbs-White to the mix could only work wonders for Haaland's potency, with the 25-year-old actually bettering the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in terms of assists this season in the Premier League.
In the words of by football statistician Statman Dave, he has been a "magician" for the Tricky Trees, amassing nine assists in the league, with his equally impressive goal count of five strikes from 30 league games no doubt enhancing Guardiola's men in the forward areas even more if a signature was reached.
Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White reacts after the match
While De Bruyne makes more key passes per game with two, Gibbs-White isn't far behind with 1.5 in the Premier League this season. That's a number that would rank him fourth in the City squad, ahead of other midfielders in the shape of Gundogan, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Rodri.
City's top five PL providers of assists (24/25)
Player
1. Savinho
2. Kevin De Bruyne
3. Jeremy Doku
4. Matheus Nunes
5. Ilkay Gundogan
Stats by Sofascore
Evidently, City do need to freshen in the attacking midfield spots with De Bruyne heading for the exit door and Gundogan failing to find the back of the net in the league this season from 31 contests.
Therefore, Gibbs-White might be the transformative body City desire, with the £100m target also a potentially perfect teammate for Haaland to bounce off of to enable the goals to flow even more from their clinical number nine.
wirtz-man-city-rodri Related
[Man City sold arguably the "best forward in the world", now he's like Wirtz](https://www.footballfancast.com/man-city-sold-julian-alvarez-now-hes-like-wirtz/ "Man City sold arguably the "best forward in the world", now he's like Wirtz")
Manchester City might have already sold their own Florian Wirtz when getting rid of this top attacker.