Will Man City’s new summer signings hit the ground running in the Premier League?

Pep Guardiola did not waste time in looking to revamp his squad after a very disappointing 2024-25 season where the club finished without a trophy for the first time since his 1st season in charge.

After making four new signings in the January transfer window, City moved quickly to secure an additional four new players ahead of the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup and the squad revamp is not expected to stop there.

Pep Guardiola is constructing a new team and it’s going to be interesting to see how it takes shape.

Who did City sign in January?

Manchester City moved quickly to reinforce their defence signing the speedy Uzbekistan centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens for around £33.5 million plus potential bonuses.

The player is one for the future but appears to have attributes that Pep likes despite his inexperience and lack of games at the highest level.

Khusanov did struggle in some of his Man City appearances but showed enough that given time a quality defender seems likely to develop.

Another centre-back signed in January was Brazilian youngster Vitor Reis from Palmeiras for reported fee of £29.6million.

As reported by the BBC, Reis said, “This is a dream come true, since I was a young kid I’ve always dreamt with an opportunity just like this one and play for a club as big as City,” and he went on to say, “The magnitude of Manchester City, its history and its structure. When the door knocked and it was Manchester City, I knew there wasn’t anywhere else to go.”

The player is only 19 years old so is another one for the future who Palmeiras wanted to keep on-loan but City insisted he join in January.

Perhaps the most eye-catching signing was that of Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial fee of around £59million with the potential for it to rise with performance related add-ons.

Marmoush showed his class as he instantly looked at home in City’s sky blue kit continuing his goal-scoring form from the Bundesliga.

Marmoush should help relieve the goal-scoring burden from Erling Haaland following the sale of Julian Alvarez last summer.

The 4th signing of the January window was Nico Gonzalez from Porto.

A midfielder by trade, Nico joined City for a reported £50million fee to help fill the void left by the absence of injured Ballon D’Or winner Rhodri.

Interestingly according to Football365 the player may already be looking to leave the Etihad despite appearing 17 times and scoring 2 goals for his new club. Seemingly, his agent is talking to other clubs “inviting offers”.

Who are the Man City transfer signings so far this summer?

Pep moved quickly to replace the Napoli bound Kevin De Bruyne signing Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan for £46million.

The player is technically sound and looks like he will fit in well at the Etihad given he has played for a top club in Serie A.

At the age of 26 he has that extra experience meaning he’s more likely to hit the ground running allowing fellow new midfielder Rayan Cherki some time to find his feet.

Whether Reijnders can fill the boots of the legendary Belgian playmaker De Bruyne remains to be seen.

Also signed to help fill the creative void left by De Bruyne’s departure was Lyon’s French creative midfielder Rayan Cherki.

The player quickly agreed contract terms to join City ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup in a deal reportedly worth £34million and seems like he has the pedigree to handle the pressures of the Premier League.

The French midfielder has shown he can perform at a high level and at the age of 21 has been signed for the future as well as to hopefully making a big impact now.

In an attempt to shore up his full-back options, Guardiola targeted a proven entity in the Premier League as Algerian left sided wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri was delighted to join the Cityzens in a £31million deal.

The player proved his class at Wolves and showed he was ready for bigger things with his quality attacking play and solid defensive work.

The last of the signings made ahead of the Club World Cup was somewhat more low key as Marcus Bettinelli joined City from rivals Chelsea.

The Englishman joins as the 3rd choice goalkeeper behind Ederson and Stefan Ortega. Bettinelli has Premier League experience having played for both Fulham and Chelsea.

He provides value as an homegrown member of the squad and is a capable keeper who has made one appearance for England U21’s and was called up to the senior squad back in 2018 but did not play.


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Will City do more business this transfer window?

It seems likely the club will do more business this summer as Nico Gonzalez may be moving on if reports are to be believed. By the admission of owner Sheikh Mansour they were too slow to retool an ageing squad ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Players like Kyle Walker are due to leave City permanently, with even the likes of Bernardo Silva possibly moving on, more new signings are surely inevitable.

Also, the well publicised potential departure of record signing, England international Jack Grealish will likely mean another attacker or two are likely to be signed.

With neither Matheus Nunes nor Rico Lewis likely to be the long-term answer at right-back. Porto’s Martim Fernandes has been linked as a possible right-back replacement as well as Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento.

The squad has a number of players around the age of 30 and older and after only spending £20 million to sign Brazlian youngster Savinho and Ilkay Gundogan re-joining City on a free-transfer from Barcelona last summer, City look primed to make more moves.

There seems like there is much more to come from Savinho who was preferred to Jack Grealish by Pep pretty much throughout the season

Stay in touch with our Transfer Rumours section to read about all the latest possible City additions as well as all the other transfer speculation and impending deals as they are confirmed.

With the likes of Real Madrid’s Rodrygo amongst others linked to join the Manchester City squad, the team will be looking to rebound back into PL title contention and Champions League winning form in the 2025-26 season.

Discussion

  • Ontheball
    July 11, 2025 at 8:09 pm

    They are gonna struggle to contend for the title or win the Champions League – they are miles off it especially given what happened at the Club World Cup