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Reijnders, Gibbs-White, Cherki - Man City transfer list spells bad news for Jack Grealish

Manchester City have been linked with a number of midfielders already this summer - so what does that mean for their under-fire players already at the club?

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Jack Grealish's route back to Man City starts next season is becoming more obscured.

Hugo Viana wants a new attacking midfielder.

The list of Manchester City targets so far have almost exclusively been in that position with Kevin De Bruyne having said his farewells. City have walked away from a deal for Florian Wirtz, while Morgan Gibbs-White and Tijjani Reijnders are admired as alternative midfield options.

They are different players, and City signed Nico Gonzalez for £50m in January as the midfield rebuild continues. Lyon's exciting France under-21 international Rayan Cherki is the latest name to be linked with the Blues.

How many of those targets end up at the Etihad, and which ones, remains to be seen. However Viana's vision for a revamped midfield is becoming clear and that will have a knock-on effect for a number of players currently part of the forward line.

With Rodri expected back next season and Gonzalez signed as a player who can get between the bottom and top of midfield, there may only be one spot left in the middle. A Gibbs-White or Reijnders or Cherki could offer that link to the front three in a similar way to De Bruyne.

That could shift both Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush wide in search of more minutes, while Bernardo Silva may have to float between six, seven, eight, 10 and 11again next season. Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan could revert to cover options when everyone is fit - or face difficult decisions themselves over their future.

Perhaps the player most at risk is someone already staring at the exit door after Pep Guardiola's comments this weekend. Having left Jack Grealish out completely against Fulham, Guardiola left the door open to his £100m man leaving in search of regular football.

Guardiola insisted he will be happy if Grealish stays. But when he has consistently overlooked his number 10, snubbing him off the bench in the FA Cup final before making the Fulham call, it is hard to see where his route back to regular starts even begins.

He couldn't convince Guardiola that he deserved to play ahead of Jeremy Doku and Savinho this season and that was without Oscar Bobb being available. Foden's struggles meant he wasn't in a position to threaten either so Grealish was handed the easiest run to a left-wing place since he arrived at City yet couldn't take it.

So add Foden, Marmoush, Bobb and maybe Bernardo to the competition out wide next season, and Grealish could find himself further away from the minutes he wants.

Even if City don't sign a new winger this summer, Grealish will still look at Viana's plans for his new-look team and fear for his future.

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