Manchester City braced for summer rebuild

With several long-serving and high-profile players out of contract at the end of the season, Pep Guardiola has a unique chance to build his ideal Manchester City.

City have as many as SIX first team regulars whose deals are up at the end of this campaign.

While the club owners have not been shy about splashing the cash, the question is will City offload the out of contract players in January or risk lose them for nothing?

The clock has been ticking on Yaya Toure’s time at the club since the second Guardiola was announced as manager but reports suggest the Ivorian is happy to run out his contract. The mutual antipathy between the two has bordered on the petty at times but the fact remains that Toure, for all he has achieved in his six years at the club, is surplus to Guardiola’s requirements.

The biggest concern for Guardiola and City is locking up a deal for one player the are desperate to keep – Fernandinho. The Brazilian international has quickly become a favourite of the manager and was integral to the winning start to the campaign.

Locking up a deal for the former Shakhtar Donetsk player before the end of the year is believed to be a massive priority for City.

The other potential problem for City lies in the full-back area where three experienced players – Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Bakary Sangna – are all out of contract at the end of the season.

Guardiola has shown a preference for an ‘inverted full-backs‘ strategy whereby outside defenders slide to the middle in possession rather than supporting the wingers. But much of the benefit City have derived from each of Zabaleta, Sangna and to a lesser extent Clichy, has come from their offensive instincts.

In addition all three are now in their thirties, which means they are less likely to command the sort of salaries their agents will likely believe they are due in search of a final lucrative payoff.

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City have joined the chase for Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin, who fits the mould of speedy, athletic and technical.

With a valuation on the region of 43M, City will surely want to recoup some of that before trying to outbid other suitors for the Gunners’ defender.

Winger Jesus Navas, a favourite of former boss Manuel Pellegrini, also is free to leave at the end of the season, but rumours are circulating that City may try to offload him to former club Sevilla.

In his treatment of the likes of Toure, Joe Hart and Samir Nasri, Guardiola has displayed he has no loyalty to City past. We’ll know by the January window how quickly he intends to build City in his image.