Pep Guardiola’s side could be set for a big shake-up this summer, with doubts over the future of two key players
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, goes the old saying. And it could easily apply to Manchester City’s midfield. For all the changes the club have undergone in Pep Guardiola’s eight years in charge, the make-up of the middle of the park at the Etihad Stadium has been remarkably consistent.
Rodri has been anchoring the midfield since he joined in 2019 and his two partners have been there even longer, with Bernardo Silva moving to City from Monaco in the summer of 2017 and Kevin De Bruyne arriving two years before.
All three have been constant presences, contributing in their own way to the club’s incredible haul of 16 trophies under Guardiola, which could easily expand to 18 within the next three weeks.
There was a major last summer when Ilkay Gundogan left for Barcelona and the team faced a massive setback when De Bruyne was ruled out for the first five months of the season after tearing his hamstring. It is to the credit of Guardiola and Phil Foden that City are stil on course to secure record fourth consecutive league title, in addition to reaching the FA Cup final.
But big changes could be on the horizon as the futures of Bernardo and De Bruyne look unclear. So, what will City’s midfield look like next season?
De Bruyne doubts
De Bruyne seems to be most at risk of leaving. The Belgian turns 33 in June, when he will also have just one year left on his contract, and City are famously stubborn about handing lucrative contracts to players approaching the twilight of their careers.
There seems to be genuine interest in the Belgian from the Saudi Pro League, whose sporting director Michael Emenalo has known De Bruyne for more than a decade, having helped negotiate his move from Genk to Chelsea in 2012. If De Bruyne wants to maintain his current salary for more than a year, he will likely have to leave.
But the playmaker has also demonstrated that he remains pivotal to City’s ambitions. The team had to navigate the first half of the season without De Bruyne when he was forced to undergo surgery after tearing his hamstring for the second time in the space of two months.
They rumbled on without him, winning their next five games in the league before starting to wobble, dropping 17 points in the space of 11 matches.
Making the difference
De Bruyne made a stunning return to Premier League action by guiding City to a comeback victory at Newcastle and has barely looked back since, contributing to 21 goals in the space of four months. He has more assists (15) in all competitions than any other Premier League player, despite playing only half of the season.
Questions have been asked of De Bruyne’s ability to make the difference in crunch matches, especially when he was taken off by Guardiola at Anfield. But he has proved his value more than ever over the course of four months and his talismanic performances look set to take City to yet another title.
The difference in City’s fortunes with and without De Bruyne is stark. In the Premier League matches he has not been available for selection, City have won 11 games, lost three and drawn four. Since he has returned, they have won 13, drawn three and lost none.
So, despite the fact his best days may be behind him, there is a strong case for City keeping hold of him for one more year, allowing him the freedom to then choose his next destination, just like Gundogan did.
Question marks over Paqueta
City sources are playing down talk of a midfield overhaul, stressing that they will only seek new signings if there are exits. So, if De Bruyne and Guardiola fancy one last dance together next season, then it is unlikely the club will go out and sign another playmaker in the summer.
Last year the club took a serious look at Lucas Paqueta and were close to signing the Brazilian for £85m ($106m) before the move was scrapped when the FA opened an investigation into the player for allegedly breaching its betting rules.
Unlike Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali, Paqueta is yet to be punished and he has continued to perform at the highest level for West Ham, meaning he would remain a potential transfer target for City along with other players.
However, while the investigation remains open and unresolved, City will not be making a move for him, especially if De Bruyne decides to stay.
Bernardo’s annual attempt to leave
As City consider what to do with their brilliant Belgian, they will be bracing themselves for their annual wrangle over Bernardo, who is set for a fourth consecutive attempt to leave the club. The Portuguese joined City after Guardiola’s first season and remains pivotal to their plans, starting 38 games and contributing to 17 goals this season.
Had he got his way, however, he would have left City last summer for either Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain. He faced two big obstacles: the Catalans were unable to spend money on transfers due to their enormous debt and Guardiola was determined not to lose another senior midfielder after bidding farewell to Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez, leading to him vetoing a proposed move to PSG.
Bernardo signed a new contract until 2026 but it did not mean he had decided to stay at City for the long term. According to reports, the contract contains a £50m ($62m) release clause that becomes active this summer. City declined to comment on the existence of the clause, although Bernardo has continued to openly admit he does not want to stay at City for much longer.
“I won’t hide that my goal in the coming years, if something good happens elsewhere, will probably be to move to a new project,” he told Portuguese newspaper Record in January 2023. And in March of this year he reiterated his plans to return to boyhood club Benfica.
Bernardo has always been professional, training hard and performing consistently, and it is believed the main thing pushing him towards a move is a desire to move away from Manchester. Despite the new contract, that urge does not appear to have gone away.
Guimaraes fits the bill
If Bernardo’s wish to leave is belatedly granted, then Bruno Guimaraes is a strong candidate to replace him. The Brazilian has been one of Newcastle’s most influential players ever since the influx of Saudi Arabian investment but there is a feeling that his time on Tyneside is coming to an end.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has revealed that Guimaraes has a £100m ($125m) release clause until June and Newcastle may even be forced to accept a bid below their asking price to meet the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) regulations.
Guimaraes has the physical power to slot into Guardiola’s side and cope with their intense style of play, as well as boasting the attacking flair and balance needed to thrive within such an attacking team.
If City were to sign him, he would help reduce their dependence on Rodri, as well as allowing the Spaniard a rest from time to time. But he would also be an ideal partner for Rodri, taking it in turns to get forward to support the attack.
“He is an exceptional holding midfielder,” Guardiola said in March. “He is aggressive, with the ball or without the ball. At set-pieces, he’s aggressive and is a real, complete holding midfielder since being at Lyon and now at a club who want to grow up and up.”
Guimaraes has spoken of his admiration for Guardiola, who he has called “a genius, the best coach in history”. And he has made it clear he would relish playing with Erling Haaland, describing the City striker as “a monster” and declared he would get “20 assists a season” if he were to become his team-mate.
The grass isn’t always greener
The key to City’s success under Guardiola has been their carefully-timed evolution and the coach, with the exception of his second summer, has not been an advocate of sweeping changes, always being careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. If last summer is any indication, he will be reluctant to let De Bruyne and Bernardo leave at the same time, knowing that new recruits, no matter how talented, tend to need a bedding-in process with his team.
De Bruyne and Bernardo would also do well to remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Gundogan got the move to Barcelona he craved but is set to end the season with no silverware and has taken swipes at his team-mates for not having the same insatiable appetite for winning as him. Mahrez will not be lifting the Saudi league title with Al-Ahli this year and his wife Taylor Ward has admitted she has struggled to adapt to the culture in Jeddah.
City remains one of the best clubs in the world from a sporting point of view, with De Bruyne and Bernardo on the verge of making English football history and becoming the first club to win four consecutive titles if they can hold off Arsenal. The pair have come close to leaving City before and changed their minds in the end. Don’t rule them out doing so again.