Manchester City have had a busy first transfer window of the summer and that is not expected to change when the second opens
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 29: Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Leicester City FC and Manchester City FC at The King Power Stadium on December 29, 2024 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 29: Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Leicester City FC and Manchester City FC at The King Power Stadium on December 29, 2024 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Kyle Walker's penultimate match for Manchester City came at Leicester
The first of the summer transfer windows had barely closed when Manchester City were agreeing their next deal. Sverre Nypan is expected to become the fifth new face of the month when the Blues complete a £12.5m signing for the Rosenborg youngster.
Nypan is not expected to stick around for long in Manchester, the 18-year-old instead heading off on loan for development rather than immediately linking up with his fellow Norwegians Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb. However, City's move for Nypan - having refused to get involved in courting him in January when several of Europe's top clubs were - speaks to the way in which they have attacked the summer transfer windows.
The Blues have already moved decisively to bring in three players that can improve the first team as well a replacing Scott Carson with a homegrown alternative in Marcus Bettinelli, and Nypan will take them to the cusp of £300m on incomings for 2025. With the way they are building for the future, it is inevitable that City will cross that threshold before the second window of the summer shuts on September 1.
What is less clear is whether a right-back will be part of that bumper spend. That position looks to be the last outstanding weakness in the squad after strengthening at left-back, midfield and attack - but a new signing is no guarantee.
City will lose a right-back this summer as club captain Kyle Walker leaves, his status at the club blowing up in remarkably quick fashion over the past year. However, Guardiola has already said he does not want a much bigger squad and has plenty of options in the position even if he is short on specialists.
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In the squad at the Club World Cup, Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes, Manu Akanji, John Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov can all play there and it does feel like that 27-man group will go down rather than up over the next few months. Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri look likely for loan moves but it will likely need trimming further unless the manager is expected to leave players out of matchday squads more regularly.
Bobb, Lewis, and Nunes are among the players fighting for their way in from the fringes, Stones, Nathan Ake and Khusanov are probably the most at risk if another centre-back is going, while there are still doubts over Ilkay Gundogan and, to a lesser extent, Bernardo Silva. If the first transfer window focused on arrivals, there will be some big departures in the next.
On top of any potential exits from the Club World Cup squad, Walker and Jack Grealish will be the two headline departures, with the latter left out of the US trip to help him facilitate a move. City will be keen on a permanent move, although a loan arrangement may have to be an imperfect solution.
James McAtee is also expected to go and could fetch around £25m, while the Blues will expect to raise between £50m and £100m on academy and emerging talent sales. That will go a long way towards balancing City's mammoth spend for the year as they hope to have the sort of transfer activity that sets the club for years to come.
It is that overall picture, rather than a right-back, that City will hope is the focus of next season. They just have to decide what part their ultimate call on a right-back will play in the bigger picture.
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