A structural void: Why the Manchester City transfer market is a cause for concern

Manchester City lost crucial names and dressing-room leaders, and are dealing with the underrated absence of Pep Guardiola, but with few reinforcements to match

Manchester City arrive at the closing stages of the transfer window in a curious position: the club has moved a huge amount of money, made significant sales, and yet still appears to have a weaker squad than the one that finished last season.

Rodri, Bernardo and the leaders who left Manchester City

The biggest challenge facing Manchester City in the market is that some of these losses cannot simply be measured by the number of players brought in to replace them. Rodri was the man who organised almost everything, and in moments without him, the team struggled badly.

The Spaniard made 298 appearances for Manchester City and won 14 major honours before moving to Barcelona for around £51.3 million. He was the player who gave the team control when it needed to slow the game down, protection for the defence when the full-backs pushed forward, and the quality to beat the opposition's first line of pressure.

The Portuguese left the club as a free agent and signed for Real Madrid. Over nine years, he was one of the most important players of the Guardiola era precisely because he could perform such varied roles: wide on the right, as a midfielder, cutting inside, sitting deeper, or even filling in as an improvised full-back.

If the gap had been limited to midfield, the strategy would be easier to understand, but Maresca has also lost important pieces in defence. John Stones left the club after ten years, at the end of his contract. Nearly 300 appearances and 19 trophies with Manchester City, though injuries limited his involvement last season.

Nathan Ake was sold to Fenerbahce after six seasons at the club. Manuel Akanji also left permanently after a loan spell at Inter Milan last season. That has significantly reduced depth in a position already struggling with fitness and adaptation issues.

The result is that Manchester City are not simply trying to replace Rodri. They are rebuilding a considerable number of roles across the squad. And that helps explain why this window feels so unusual.

Elliot Anderson does not solve everything, but there are other possibilities

Elliot Anderson was the club's headline signing of the window, and it is, of course, not a bad piece of business. Manchester City paid Nottingham Forest £116 million for a 23-year-old midfielder who started every match last season and played an important role in England's 2026 World Cup campaign.

Anderson offers something Manchester City needed: energy, ball-carrying, the ability to win duels, and the intensity required for an increasingly physical league. He can also operate in different midfield roles. But there is an important difference between being able to play in Rodri's position and actually being Rodri.

The Spaniard was a tempo controller. Anderson is far more explosive and vertical. He can carry the ball over long distances, press, attack space and compete in physical duels with an intensity Rodri never quite offered in the same way, and that could push Maresca towards building a different kind of Manchester City side.

The problem is that, to do so, the manager needs more pieces around him.

The club itself is aware of this. Maresca said after the defeat to Arsenal that Manchester City would still be active before the window closes. The most advanced target is Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Manchester City have been negotiating with Lille over the 18-year-old midfielder, in a deal that could reach £85 million. According to The Guardian, the player has already agreed personal terms, and Maresca's intention is to integrate him into the squad immediately.

Adam Wharton, of Crystal Palace, is one of the names under consideration. Palace, however, rejected an approach from Manchester City, and manager Pierre Sage said the midfielder is too important to sell at this point.

Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister, Alex Scott and Manu Kone have also emerged among the possibilities.

In other words, the market itself shows that Anderson was never intended as the sole solution. Because Anderson and Bouaddi could form an elite midfield in a few years' time, but Manchester City need to compete now.

Reijnders, Savinho and the sales that did not work out

Perhaps the strangest case among the club's departures is that of Tijjani Reijnders.

The midfielder arrived in 2025 as one of the big names of Manchester City's rebuild. He was coming off an exceptional season at AC Milan, offering ball-carrying, late runs into the box, and the ability to accelerate play, and seemed to fit perfectly into the need to refresh the midfield. A year later, he was sold to Al Qadsiah.

The transfer was confirmed just over a year after his arrival, though Reijnders could actually have been a useful piece for Maresca. The Italian did use him in a deeper role during pre-season, a role that arguably suits his characteristics better.

But the player had already lost confidence during the previous season. After a run of starts, he practically disappeared from the side in the closing stages: he was on the bench for nine of Manchester City's last 14 Premier League matches and started only twice in that period.

The sale, then, is not necessarily an isolated mistake. It reveals a bigger problem: Manchester City spent heavily to rebuild the squad, only to discover shortly afterwards that some of the players chosen were not suited to the project.

James Trafford is a different case. The goalkeeper was sold to Leeds United for around £40 million, becoming the most expensive British goalkeeper in history. He had played just 17 matches for Manchester City last season and lost his starting spot to Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The departure makes sense from a footballing perspective and still generated significant income. Rulli arrived from Marseille for a modest fee and will serve as backup. Here, then, there is no real issue. The problem is that Trafford is one of the few examples of a departure Manchester City managed to turn into a clearly positive piece of business.

The squad clear-out is not yet finished. Savinho, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez are among the players who could still leave the club. Newcastle United appear interested in Gonzalez, while Marmoush and Savinho have also been linked with Tottenham.

The problem no signing can solve: Guardiola

There is also a loss that will not appear on any transfer list. Pep Guardiola. After ten years, six Premier League titles and one Champions League, the Spaniard has left the club.

Enzo Maresca was chosen as his successor, in a clear attempt to preserve part of the identity built during the previous era. The Italian worked under Guardiola at Manchester City and understands his principles deeply, but continuity does not mean repetition.

Maresca will have to find his own way of making the team function. And that makes the choice of reinforcements even more delicate. It is not simply a matter of working out who replaces Rodri, but understanding what kind of Manchester City side Maresca wants to build without Rodri, without Bernardo, and above all, without Guardiola.

The 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield was particularly revealing, as Manchester City struggled to play out from under pressure and build attacks with confidence without their main organiser in midfield.

The main confirmed moves and the targets still under negotiation reveal exactly the contradiction at the heart of this window: Manchester City are spending, but they are spending to rebuild a squad that has lost even more important players along the way.

The overall assessment, then, does not have to be final, but depends on a number of factors. If Anderson, Bouaddi and another top-level midfielder arrive, if Maresca manages to integrate the new pieces quickly, if Haaland stays fit, and if players such as Cherki, Foden and Doku take on greater responsibility, the picture could change rapidly.

Manchester City still have enough talent to compete for the Premier League, but the margin for error has shrunk dramatically. Arsenal retained Mikel Arteta, added depth, and enter the season as champions and favourites.

Manchester City, meanwhile, lost the manager who built their most dominant era, their main defensive midfielder, their captain, two experienced defenders, and a series of squad players.

Manchester City now enter 2026-27 having to replace an entire generation of key figures almost all at once. And that is the real problem with their transfer window: it is not that Manchester City lack money. What they currently lack is replacements capable of matching what they have lost.