The general consensus around Manchester City right now is that the club is dire need of a freshen up, with the legs having completely gone almost overnight.
Manchester City certainly have an ageing squad: in fact, Pep Guardiola’s side are the fifth-oldest in the Premier League with an average squad age of 26.7 years, compared to the youngest which is Chelsea’s at 23.5 years.
Alarmingly for City is the fact that some of their best players are much older now. Much older than the average squad age are names like Kevin De Bruyne at 33 years old, Ilkay Gundogan at 34, and John Stones at 30.
Gary Lineker thinks that Man City’s legs have gone too, naming Gundogan as one that might be past his best whilst Man City fans think De Bruyne is past his best now as well, with his performance in that 2-0 defeat against Liverpool in February proving a painful watch.
And speaking out recently, Gundogan himself has admitted that City’s squad is simply too old.
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Ilkay Gundogan denies Manchester City squad is ‘too old’
Speaking in an interview with German outlet Sport.De, Gundogan has denied that City are either too tired or too old to maintain their previous success rate. Instead, he believes that City have just set the bar so high for themselves that anything less is deemed a massive failure.
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He said: “I don’t think we’re too tired. I don’t think we’re too old. I just think what Man City has achieved in the last seven years is not normal. If you look: six Premier League titles, the Champions League, countless trophies.
“What the club has achieved is now considered normal. We discuss that ourselves. Sometimes you can’t do anything other than accept that. That’s what we do, knowing we can do better because we’ve made enough mistakes ourselves. We can assess well. Accordingly, the minimum goal now is to qualify for the Champions League.”
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Ilkay Gundogan is completely wrong about Manchester City
Gundogan and perhaps De Bruyne, of all the players at Manchester City, highlight the clear-as-day fact that this squad is just too old to complete at the level they’ve been doing so for years now.
That De Bruyne performance against Liverpool for example; De Bruyne would’ve ran that game in seasons gone by, but watching the Belgian run around aimlessly, chasing after balls and coming up short, it was a stark reminder that he’s now past his best.
Gundogan has a point about City setting a high bar. Their success is unprecedented for sure but the 50-game seasons have just caught up with them now. Guardiola needs fresh legs in the side and that’s clear for everyone to see.
City return to action against Brighton on Saturday in a game that could once again highlight the need for youth in the side.