“Are a bit of an exception”
Pep Guardiola has made it clear that Manchester City has some catching up to do at the top. “The club definitely needs a striker,” the coach from “telegraphquoted. “I don’t agree with people saying we play fantastic without a striker because we win,” said the Spaniard, who is top of the Premier League with the Citizens after 27 games.
“We play differently with a striker. Without him we work with the quality that we have,” said Guardiola. His team is “a bit of an exception” in England because the competition has “a different philosophy”. Guardiola often rotates in the front position: While Phil Foden (21) was set up as the “false nine” in the 1-0 win at Everton, Bernardo Silva (27) against Tottenham or Jack Grealish (26) played this role away at Southampton. Gabriel Jesus (24), who is the only trained centre-forward in the squad, has seen little or no use in recent games and has shined more with assists than goals this season.
The Brazilian started the season as the number one striker because club legend Sergio Agüero (33) switched to FC Barcelona and the “Citizens” were unsuccessful in courting Harry Kane (28). The club, known for their high spending and having invested €1.09bn in signings since Guardiola’s arrival in 2016, a figure only two clubs have surpassed in the same period, has tended to focus more on defenders and rarely bought centre-forwards.
Only Gabriel Jesus had the caliber to play a serious role in the team. During Guardiola’s tenure, the Skyblues invested more than 460 million euros in defence, which is by far the highest value compared to national and international competition, only 59.3 million euros were invested in center forwards.
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Since 2017, only Gabriel Jesus for €32m from Palmeiras and Olarenwaju Kayode (24) for €3.8m from Austria Wien and in 2020 Nahuel Bustos (23) for €6.5m from CA Talleres have come as strikers . While Kayode left the club a year later on a transfer deficit, Bustos is still active on loan for Spanish partner club FC Girona.
Just before the start of the winter transfer window, Guardiola said the club would have to replace the centre-forward position “sooner or later”. “One day it will happen.” On Deadline Day, the English team secured the services of Argentinian center forward Julián Álvarez (22), who, according to the club, will remain on loan at River Plate “at least” until the end of the season. The amount of the transfer for the most valuable professional in Argentina is located at 17 million euros.
Man City could land the big hit with the transfer of BVB professional Erling Haaland (21). The English champions are one of the few clubs that could afford the full package for the Norwegian, consisting of a transfer fee, salary, bonus money and a fee for Mino Raiola’s agent. According to reports, the top scorer can leave Borussia Dortmund in the summer for around 75 million euros with an exit clause. This would make Haaland the second most expensive transfer for Guardiola at Man City, who is entering his last year of contract in 2022/23.
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Simeone, Guardiola & Co.: The longest-serving coaches in the top 5 leagues
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