Transfer Rumours? Will Manchester City Buy in January?

The January Transfer Window Opens in a Month and Manchester City are finalising their strategy.

Last January Pep Guardiola added Aymeric Laporte, believing the late addition would strengthen their bid to compete on numerous fronts and would allow the player time to settle into the high performing squad following the transfer. This coming transfer window, will Manchester City adopt a similar approach? Will the Club seek to add now, believing they can achieve better value?

The January transfer window market is notorious for Clubs panic buying players as a last roll of the dice, often at inflated prices. It is a window which most large Clubs tend to avoid not least because there are issues from integrating any new addition into an already established squad. How do you ensure the new player will bring the right personality to a winning dressing room and won’t be just another Alexis Sanchez?

These issues will be filling the heads of the Manchester City Executives at the current time as they make the decision whether to add a player or wait until the Summer.

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Right now, in recent press conferences Pep Guardiola has repeatedly said there will be no further players added in January, but is this simple game playing? Is this an attempt to throw our immediate competitors off the scent? Is it a message for our current squad to keep up the good work and performance level or things will change?

The Manchester City fans can see some gaps in our impressive squad and believe it may be necessary to add players to ensure we can maintain our challenge throughout the whole season. There are concerns we need a left back to counter the continued absences of the injury prone Benjamin Mendy. Fans consider Zinchenko is not assured enough to fulfill this role in big games.

Fans believe there is a gap in the defensive midfield and that the Club have no adequate cover for Fernandinho. Fans consider a new striker would be important to us and that the two senior strikers we have in the squad provide insufficient insurance.

Whilst I can see a short term option being considered as left back cover, especially with some worrying comments by Guardiola about Mendy, I consider any defensive midfield cover is much more difficult to achieve in January. This requires a long term view to secure the permanent successor to Fernandinho. Such a player will attract a premium in January window. Realistically there are few players capable of undertaking this role immediately. So will City look to the future by securing a long term replacement now, and giving them considerable time to adjust – or will they be looking at a player more capable of immediately stepping up into the first team?

It is my view that City will enter the transfer market in January only if the right player becomes available. There will be no last minute panic buy unless there is a serious injury to a key player. It may well therefore be the case that Guardiola will sit out this window and wait until Summer. If that is the case, then Manchester City fans may just need to get used to the idea that Guardiola is telling the truth in his press conferences.

Managing an elite squad of athletes in reality is probably much different to managing one in a computer game. Given Guardiola’s track record I am happy to relax and trust in him to get the recruitment right. Our history of transfers these last couple of years is absolutely resounding and gives me confidence we will make the right decisions as a club.