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Man City had a busy transfer window with news has emerging of what would have been a shock move in 2024.
Man City’s recruitment has been near faultless this summer with Pep Guardiola leading what has become a well-oiled transfer machine.
The majority of transfer business was concluded early in the window with players like Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders arriving to add a different type of profile from Ligue 1 and Serie A respectively to replace the outgoing Kevin de Bruyne.
The veteran Belgian was always going to be difficult to replace, however, City have looked at the bigger picture rather than trying to replace him on his own. Adding Gianluigi Donnarumma will replace his experience and leadership in the dressing room though.
Shock Man City and Liverpool swap deal sliding doors moment
One area where the recruitment team didn’t spend that much money or make much of a difference was in the forward areas with Cherki the only real addition in the final third.
Money had been spent in January on Omar Marmoush which meant that City didn’t have to join the scramble for strikers in the summer. The signing of Cherki is one that they might not have had to make if they had agreed to the sort of swap deal that would have raised a few eyebrows in the summer of ‘24.
A report in The Daily Telegraph with inside information from sources from within the confides of Anfield has explained the long-term approach to their summer rebuild and how a £400m+ spend was possible. What it also explains is how close Arne Slot came to landing a player branded “one of the best forwards in the world”.
“Shortly after the trio (Liverpool’s recruitment team of Mark Edwards, Richard Hughes and Slot) got to work, Liverpool realised Luis Díaz wanted to go to Manchester City. The recruitment team proposed Díaz might move to the Etihad in exchange for Julián Alvarez,” Chris Bascombe wrote in The Telegraph ‘We don’t sell to rivals,’ City responded, killing the idea. ‘Neither do we then,’ was Liverpool’s pithy response.”
Who got the better deal, City or Liverpool?
To an extent, City were probably right not to let Alvarez join Liverpool because he would have been perfect for Slot. That he was linked to them from Atletico Madrid wasn’t a surprise this summer given his ability to play several roles across the forward line and fit into a pragmatic manager’s game plan.
With Darwin Nunez struggling for goals for much of the season, the Argentina international might have played a key role and made the stroll to the Premier League title even easier.
The knock-on effect though would have meant that Hugo Ekitike wouldn’t have been targeted this summer by Liverpool, in addition, a player with World Cup ambitions and with an already stellar career, probably wouldn’t want to play second fiddle to Alexander Isak.
It isn’t too big a leap to suggest that Alvarez would have pushed for a move this summer given the public pursuit of the big Swede. Out of the two clubs, it is City who won that transfer battle given how much Alvarez would have improved Liverpool’s forward line.
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