Manchester City have said goodbye to Pep Guardiola over the last week and they're preparing for another crucial summer as the post-Pep era begins.
City face another crucial summer
City face another crucial summer
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Pep Guardiola's exit signals the end of an era for Manchester City, but it's time to look to the future as the club prepare to welcome Enzo Maresca as their new manager.
This summer was always likely to be busy for City as their squad rebuild continues, and appointing Guardiola's successor will undoubtedly be their most important task. Maresca will be handed the reins and it will be intriguing to see what impact his appointment has on certain players.
With so many questions to be answered, we're hosting a weekly Q&A session with our chief City writer Simon Bajkowski. This is your chance to get an answer on anything you want - simply pop your question here and Simon will pick them all up and wrap everything up in one place.
As you would expect, the managerial appointment and City's transfer plans feature heavily in this week's list of questions.
What is the criteria being used to decide whether Savinho stays or leaves? I personally would love to see him stay, I know one day he is gonna be great. (Lewis)
Hi Lewis, the criteria is the same as with any player really: weighing up how valuable he is and could be at City versus the money in selling and replacing him, bearing in mind how much he may or may not want to leave. Savinho was open to a move last year and is again, but he still has plenty of people at City who speak highly of him and agree with you about his potential.
The question is how long the club are ready to wait for that though and it also changes because Maresca's view is not likely to be identical to what Pep Guardiola had. Hugo Viana appears to be more willing to move players on than previous sporting director Txiki Begiristain was, so that increases the likelihood of a deal.
It feels like there are more pieces in place for a deal to happen this summer but let's see.
From what I’ve read, Maresca runs a possession offence, as Pep did, but slows it down even more than Pep. With other teams pressing more and then throwing everyone into the box should City get into the attacking third, I don’t see how this helps to create chances? (Gary)
It's a fair point, Gary, and it is something that Maresca will need to address. At both Leicester and Chelsea, there was a significant number of supporters who weren't big fans of Maresca's playing style; it's longer ago and not senior football but his City Under-21s team were brilliant entertainers! If the Italian will almost certainly have to adapt though, his play did bring Chelsea two trophies and have them firmly in the top four race this season - they performed far worse after he left.
I think it is also worth pointing out that just because the game has gone so far in favour of physicality and set-pieces, it doesn't mean the backlash isn't already underway. Guardiola arrived in England when possession football was out of vogue ten years ago and two seasons later everybody wanted to do it. I'd expect some teething issues at City with Maresca, but I also don't think the focus on set-pieces will be as much in the next campaign.
What are the current transfer targets in terms of players that City are looking at or interested in? (Adiel)
The big one that will surprise nobody is Elliot Anderson. Not only is he City's No.1 priority but the club want it to be done before the World Cup - and that is fast approaching. It's not terminal if it doesn't get done by then, but City are striving to get it over the line so that they can move on to other areas that need addressing.
There are other midfielders that are on shortlists such as Sandro Tonali, although the noise from inside the club this week is that Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez is not somebody of interest. Getting a second midfielder isn't essential but with doubts over the futures of Rodri, Nico Gonzalez and Mateo Kovacic, there are lots of pieces that could potentially be moving.
The second position City want to move in is right-back, and I was under the impression that the club were looking at players such as Givairo Read from Feyenoord and Marco Palestra from Atalanta - young, upcoming talents that can challenge Matheus Nunes as first choice rather than immediately try and usurp him. City have been linked to Tottenham's Pedro Porro in recent days though, which would be a departure from that thinking.
What is the situation with Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias given the transfer rumours? (Santanu)
News that both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias could be considering their future at the club may appear shocking. It shouldn't; players consider their options every summer - not least when Guardiola has left - and every summer top clubs in Europe try to gauge if any City players would be interested in a new challenge; it just isn't always reported.
Dias is one of the favourites to land the captaincy next season at City, yet at the same time on top of Guardiola leaving his best friend at the club in Bernardo Silva has also said goodbye. Add to that he has barely had a kick since getting injured in March and seeing Marc Guehi and Abdukodir Khusanov come in, and it makes sense for him to at least think about whether there are other offers for him.
Gvardiol was flogged last season as one of the only fit players and it cost him this time, suffering a broken leg in January as his body said too much. The Croatian is also not short of other teams fluttering their eyelashes at him, and there is no league that is as demanding as the Premier League.
City want to keep both players, but as is the case with every player they will listen to offers if anybody wants to leave. It would take pretty hefty sums in the case of either defender wanting out though.
Is there a chance we will play Sverre Nypan more this season? (Dazeil)
I'd be surprised Dazeil, given the limited impact he had in his first year in English football. He was given a plum move but he couldn't really cut it at Middlesbrough and when he returned to City in January he spent the majority of his time playing for the Under-21s rather than pushing for game time in the first team.
Nypan was involved in training under Guardiola and was taken along to showpiece events like the cup final, but he wasn't able to get the minutes to show that he should stay at City after the summer. All eyes are on where he will go on loan next, because it needs to be a good pick.
When does Maresca start and bring in his new team? (Pat)
He should officially start in the next few days, although he will have been getting ready for a long time already. In terms of how much work he can do though, there's not loads, Pat, given that all of the squad are on their holidays and nearly all of them are off to the World Cup.
Things are expected to pick up in July when pre-season officially starts and then they will head off on the summer tour to Asia, where it is hoped that the friendlies they will play can be of some value before they return and head to Cardiff for the Community Shield against Arsenal.
Why didn't the club go for Luis Enrique? (Tinashe)
To put the question another way, why would Luis Enrique leave PSG? He already has one of the most exciting squads in Europe and has seriously enjoyed transforming what was an underperforming and underwhelming project into a vibrant and entertaining collective.
He is under contract until 2027 and the feeling has been around for a while that he would be happy to go beyond that. It's not that City don't rate Enrique but everything has to line up and that wasn't the case this time, just as it wasn't with Vincent Kompany or some other names in City's book.
That shouldn't take anything away from Maresca either, who has earned his impressive reputation and has enough going for him for many to be content enough with why they have gone with him rather than why they haven't gone with anyone else - but the question is still appreciated!