Man City transfer news: “Necessary evil” justified as Hugo Viana’s summer window assessed, January prediction made

Manchester City’s decision to let as many as six treble-winning players leave in the same transfer window is a “concern”, but it was a “necessary evil” for the club to carry out a major squad overhaul, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.

After experiencing a relatively quiet summer transfer window in 2024, Man City have approached 2025 differently under the guidance of new director of football Hugo Viana who has played a key role in negotiating player incomings and departures since succeeding Txiki Begiristain.

Pep Guardiola’s side failed to win a major trophy for the first time in eight seasons in 2024-25 and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak admitted that the club "should have been more aggressive" in last summer’s transfer market.

Man City's £180m January spending spree on four new signings was widely viewed as a long-overdue move to refresh Guardiola's ageing first-team squad, while the summer window represented another opportunity for Viana to oversee significant changes.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, James Trafford, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Marcus Bettinelli and Sverre Nypan were all signed by Man City, the former of whom arrived on deadline day from Paris Saint-Germain.

Man City’s summer overhaul a “concern” but a “necessary evil”

Meanwhile, more than 20 players across City’s senior and academy sides have departed, including Ederson, Manuel Akanji and Ilkay Gundogan who all left the Etihad Stadium on the final day of the window.

The experienced trio are among six players, along with Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish, who have all left Man City having previously been part of the squad that won a historic treble - including the club’s first Champions League trophy - in the 2022-23 season.

McInerney believes that Akanji is “pound-for-pound one of the best signings of Guardiola's reign” and “probably in the club's history”, while treble-winning captain Gundogan departs the Etihad as an “absolute legend”.

However, McInerney feels that Man City have ultimately made the “right call” in letting both players leave, and they are among those to depart who have passed their peak.

“It does concern me with the churn of all these players, with legends and treble winners leaving this summer: Kyle Walker, De Bruyne, Grealish, Ederson, Akanji, Gundogan. There's so many players of stature leaving Manchester City, but it's a necessary evil,” he told Sports Mole.

“I think we're lying in the bed that we made. Too many players reached their peak at the same time and we took too long to replace them. Hugo Viana has now found them new homes and I think it's the right time for it. They go with a lot of love and a lot of respect and appreciation.”

Man City tipped to sign right-back in January after failed summer move

Assessing Man City’s summer transfer window overall, McInerney added: “When you look at the issues that we had going into the window, there was a goalkeeper issue because it was very obvious Ederson wanted out, he has for a long time, [Stefan[ Ortega wasn't sure of his future.

“There was a full-back issue, right-back and left-back. I think centre-back was fine really, but there were midfield issues with Gundogan, De Bruyne and Bernardo [Silva] getting older, and you could argue maybe a wide player (was needed).

“We've ticked the boxes of most of them. We clearly have with goalkeepers. Donnarumma and Trafford are more than good enough replacements for Ederson and Ortega - Ortega is sort of in hinterland actually.

“Ait-Nouri is a really good signing at left-back. We didn't sign a right-back which is a negative there. I think we might go back in January, though, because we've actually freed up a squad place now for a non-homegrown player for January, if we want to, so there might be something in the waters there for January.

“Reijnders and Cherki are good midfield signings. Nico Gonzalez, of course, signed along with [Abdukodir] Khusanov and [Omar] Marmoush in January, so there was already some squad gaps filled there. And of course we’ve signed a couple of good young players, too, [including] Nypan who I'm very excited about on loan at Middlesbrough.

“Viana's done a good job in very difficult circumstances”

“I see this as a 7/10 window. It's very hard to judge because you need hindsight and time to judge a transfer window. It can never be a 10/10 because we didn't take every single box, we didn't get a right-back, and maybe there weren't necessarily the superstars, a lot of potential (signed instead).

“But when I look at the low and high barometers of where this could go - the lowest this could be (graded) is a 5/10, because at least half of those players are going to hit. The highest level it could be is probably a 9/10. It could be most of these players land, and so I'm going to settle somewhere around for seven right now and we'll see in future where we'll go.”

McInerney added: “I think it's been a really difficult job for Hugo Viana as a new director of football to move that many players on. I think he had his hands tied as well, because it's very obvious some players didn't want to go until quite late. Gundogan and Akanji, people like that.

“You can't really make plans if they don't move on, because you just can't sign players if some players aren't moving on. It was very difficult for Viana because he's been asked to do an impossible job of changing half the squad inside a year and sell players who don't want to go.

“I think in an ideal world, he might have moved on players like [John] Stones or [Nathan] Ake. They don't want to go. Bernardo is staying, but I respect they're looking past him for the future already as well, and [Mateo] Kovacic, people like that.

“You have to be realistic and I think Viana's done a good job in very difficult circumstances.”

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