Unfortunately, it was a quiet day for the Cityzens on deadline day. Some of our rivals, however, were very busy. Who won and lost on deadline day?
Before getting into other teams around the Premier League, I thought I’d summarize City’s deadline day.
Early on in the day, it was the same rumors that had been floating around throughout the week — City had made a bid for Sanchez, and Arsenal were looking for a replacement. Additionally, it looked like Mangala, Bony, and Delph were going to be on their way out. We first were able to wrap-up the Jadon Sancho ordeal. He officially signed for Borussia Dortmund for around 10 million later in the day and was even awarded the No. 7 jersey. Best of luck to him, it was really unfortunate he couldn’t be patient and be in the City squad. He will definitely be getting time at Dortmund, no doubt.
Next, we had another outgoing transfer, Jason Denayer. It looks like he will never be playing in a City shirt as he has not lived up to his potential. He officially moved to Galatasaray.
We then starting hearing murmurs of Elaquim Mangala moving to Crystal Palace for a relatively hefty fee. I was happy to see he would get game time at a mid-level club and we would nearly recoup the amount we paid for him. It would be a win-win for both teams. Unfortunately, this deal collapsed as Crystal Palace eventually moved for Mamadou Sakho for around the same price. To be fair, he has already played for CP and has proven himself. On the other hand, this also meant that City wouldn’t be going for another CB on deadline day and that Mangala would be our 4th backup. We were never going to sell and not find a replacement, so this is how it stands with City at the moment.
Following this, we saw Wilfried Bony return to his boyhood club, Swansea City for a fee reported around 13 million. He had a role at City, but was never going to play in a Pep Guardiola side. Fortunately, we were able to get something for him… This now leaves us with two strikers essentially.
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Now, the Sanchez drama. I am going to keep it short as I intend to focus on other clubs around the league and City’s outgoings. The Sanchez deal looked nearly done around mid-day, with Arsenal seemingly signing Thomas Lemar for 92 million dollar fee. Monaco surely would accept this. Unfortunately, Lemar rejected this himself, and so the deal collapsed, as did the Sanchez to City deal. City reportedly bid a bit higher to get him to come without a Sanchez replacement at Arsenal, but they were never going to sell without a replacement. All in all, it was a disaster for Arsenal and really unfortunate for City. Recent reports have it that City will go in for him in January, but nonetheless, we now have the opportunity to get him on a free next summer. Hang in there mate…
Finally, a deal with Napoli over the potential loan signing of Zinchenko also fell through, with Napoli not wanting the deal to go through. Zinchenko could not play a role in the City squad, adding to the outside mid/CM depth possibly.
With three deals not going through, unfortunately, I’m going to have to report City as a loser here. It may not have been City’s fault in any shape, but it was still a rough deadline day for the Cityzens.
To summarize, here are other City outgoing players:
- Kelechi Iheanacho — Leicester City
- Aaron Mooy — Huddersfield Town
- Enes Unal — Villareal
- Olivier Ntcham — Celtic
- Patrick Roberts — Celtic (loan)
- Fernando — Galatasaray
- Nolito — Sevilla
- Joe Hart — West Ham (loan)
- Douglas Luiz — Girona (loan)
- Pablo Maffeo — Girona (loan)
- Aleix Garcia — Girona (loan)
- for a complete list check out this link.
Now, moving on to 4 Winners and 3 losers of the 2017 Summer Transfer Window Deadline Day.