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Pep Guardiola wants to bring a right-back, a left-back and a central defender to Manchester City this summer.
Pep Guardiola wants to bring a right-back, a left-back and a central defender to Manchester City this summer. Photograph: McManus/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
Pep Guardiola wants to bring a right-back, a left-back and a central defender to Manchester City this summer. Photograph: McManus/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Pep Guardiola set for Manchester City clearout with 18 players at risk

This article is more than 7 years old
City ready for biggest shakeup of Sheikh Mansour era after defeat by Monaco
Guardiola will have at least £150m to spend and wants three defenders

Pep Guardiola is ready to embark on Manchester City’s greatest overhaul since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008, with up to 18 players’ futures in the balance this summer.

The head coach faces a difficult close season following City’s elimination from the Champions League by Monaco. The tie ended 6-6 on aggregate after his team lost 3-1 at Stade Louis II in Wednesday night’s last-16 second leg, with the hosts progressing thanks to their three away goals in the first leg.

He can expect to have a minimum £150m, before any wage budget, to spend on players but extensive focus will go on who to sell or release too.

Seven first-team squad members are out of contract in July: Yaya Touré, Gaël Clichy, Pablo Zabaleta, Willy Caballero, Jesús Navas, Bacary Sagna and the young central defender Tosin Adarabioyo. There are also five on loan, in Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony and Jason Denayer. And there are question marks over Sergio Agüero, who was dropped for Gabriel Jesus until the Brazilian broke a metatarsal, Vincent Kompany, who is suffering another injury-blighted campaign, and Aleksandar Kolarov, whose deal ends in summer 2019, plus the out-of-favour Fabian Delph, Fernando and Kelechi Iheanacho.

This is a total of 18 and though Guardiola would not be able to sign 18 players he is expected to prune the group considerably and focus on strengthening the defence.

Hart has indicated he expects to depart and with his replacement, Claudio Bravo, proving a flop Guardiola has to address who will be next term’s No1, with Benfica’s Ederson Moraes of interest. The head coach is also intent on adding right- and left-backs – Tottenham Hotspur’s Kyle Walker and Danny Rose are targets – plus a centre-back, Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte remaining on Guardiola’s list.

Tottenham pair Kyle Walker, left, and Danny Rose are targets for Pep Guardiola. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty Images

Guardiola would also consider bolstering attack especially if Agüero does signal unhappiness – Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez would be ideal – but there is always a limit to how many elite transfers can be done in the window.

Next up for City is Sunday’s visit of Liverpool, who beat them 4-1 in last season’s corresponding fixture, and 1-0 in this term’s reverse match on New Year’s Eve. Jürgen Klopp’s side are in fourth place, a point behind City having played a game more.

Sagna said: “I expect a reaction from the team on Sunday. I expect more desire, more passion. We did show passion in the second half [at Monaco] but it’s not enough. First we have to recover as it was a difficult game and then we have think about Liverpool.

“It’s a massive disappointment. We forgot to play in the first half, we forgot to fight as a team and press as a team and defend as a team. We gave them too much respect and against this type of players we put ourselves in danger.”

Pep Guardiola rues Manchester City's first half after Champions League exit – video

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