Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish are among the rumoured exits from the Etihad Stadium this summer. (Image: Getty)
Manchester City’s transfer window could be about to spark into life following a quiet start to the summer.
Only a handful of exits have been confirmed by the reigning champions, the most profitable being Liam Delap’s £20million switch to Premier League newbies Ipswich Town.
Elsewhere, Sergio Gomez and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have been allowed to leave – the latter spending last season out on loan at Championship play-off winners Southampton.
It means City have already have a healthy chunk of cash from player sales alone, but so far they’ve not shown much willingness to reinvest.
However, that may be about to change, with players returning from international duty and transfer plans starting to be put into place.
As such, Express Sport have picked out three City deals that could be completed in the not-too-distant future, starting with a big-money raid from one of their Premier League rivals.
Bruno Guimaraes to sign
The collective hearts of City fans across the globe would’ve no doubt dropped when Player of the Tournament and Ballon d’Or contender Rodri was hooked at half-time of Spain’s Euro 2024 final win over England.
While it appears the midfielder’s issue wasn’t as serious as first thought, no man in Pep Guardiola’s squad played more minutes than Rodri last season, indicating cover is needed heading into the upcoming campaign.
Bruno Guimaraes has already been linked with a move to City this summer. (Image: Getty)
Kalvin Phillips and to a degree Mateo Kovacic have failed to provide it, with Bruno Guimaraes emerging as the latest potential candidate.
It was a deal that looked like it could’ve been completed earlier in the summer, but Newcastle United’s hefty demands pushed City back.
But with Rodri’s workload an everlasting worry, City are likely to be active in the midfield market, with Guimaraes the most likely arrival.
Kyle Walker quits for Saudi Arabia
The noise coming out of City this summer has been activity will be kept at a minimum, unless there are any major exits before the window shuts.
Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and perhaps Phil Foden aside, few would be much bigger than club captain Kyle Walker, with talk of a Saudi switch starting to pick up.
City will be under no illusions that Walker’s physical attributes won’t last forever and at some point, his ever-reliant pace will start to evade him.
Plus, from the player’s point of view, lucrative offers from Suadi Arabia aren’t going to come around all too often, meaning Walker could be tempted to leave England behind and join a club in the Pro League this summer.
An injury-ridden campaign stunted Jack Grealish’s progression for City last season. (Image: Getty)
City cut losses and axe Jack Grealish
As for Walker’s England and City team-mate, Jack Grealish is another high earner on the club’s books who could be moved on.
On the back of a stellar 2022/23 campaign with the Treble Winners, Grealish failed to kick on last season and saw new signing Jeremy Doku gobble up most of his left-wing minutes.
It was a situation that manifested itself in Grealish being left out of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad, with the attacker’s future in East Manchester looking more and more uncertain.
Should Aston Villa pocket a handsome sum for Saudi target Moussa Diaby, what’s to say the West Midlands-based outfit don’t make a speculative move for hometown hero Grealish.
It would represent a nice bit of symmetry for Grealish, whose £100million transfer to City in 2021 allowed Villa to reinvest in their side, which ultimately led to Champions League qualification last season.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1924973/jack-grealish-kyle-walker-axed-man-city-transfer