Pep Guardiola is reportedly contemplating the possibility of selling eight players from Manchester City in a ruthless manner in response to the club’s disappointing elimination from the Champions League.
The home leg of City’s Champions League round of 16 play off match against Real Madrid, the reigning champions, ended in a 3-2 loss for City. As a result, City needed to pull off an upset victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
Despite a late goal scored by winter signing Nico Gonzalez, the task was insurmountable for Guardiola’s team because a hat trick scored by star striker Kylian Mbappe made it impossible for them to win.
In the aftermath of the match, a new report asserted that the manager of City has become dissatisfied with eight key players and is prepared to sell them this summer as part of a comprehensive purge of his squad.
Omar Marmoush, Nico González, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Vitor Reis were among the players that City brought in during the winter transfer window. This was done as a response to the disappointing run of form that City experienced towards the end of the previous year.
Furthermore, it has been reported by The Daily Star that they are contemplating the possibility of selling Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Ederson, and Jack Grealish during the summer. This suggests that they will be concentrating on letting go of players during this time.
The fact that players such as Gundogan and Walker, who joined Serie A giants AC Milan on loan in January, are on the list is not going to come as a surprise to any of the fans. However, the fact that club legend De Bruyne is also on the list is going to come as a surprise to some of the fans.
Over the course of his time with City, the Belgian midfielder has made over 400 appearances and contributed to 278 goals. Since joining City from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2015, he has been an integral part of the club’s success.
The 33-year-old, on the other hand, has had a difficult time maintaining his fitness over the past few seasons. Furthermore, his contract, which is worth £400,000 per week and is set to expire in the summer, suggests that Guardiola will permit him to leave the club as a free agent at the conclusion of the current season.
Colleagues Silva, Stones, Kovacic, Gundogan, Ederson, and Walker all appear to have put their best days behind them, and City may be eager to get their wages off the books so that they can afford to bring in new players in the near future. De Bruyne is another player who appears to have retired from the game.
While Grealish, who is still only 29 years old, is still in his prime, he has failed to impress since his transfer from Aston Villa, which set a new record for the most successful transfer in British football history.
