Will Manchester City Buy Players in January Transfer Window?

Manchester City have money in the bank and some shortcomings in their side

January transfer windows are littered with panic buys which haven’t worked out. Clubs tend to keep their prized assets and are unwilling to sell as they have little time to replace the outgoing player. So buyers have to pay a premium for what is a second tier player. But Manchester City have a history of defying the odds and making good purchases in January – Aymeric Laporte for example.

Manchester City clearly have money available to spend. The outlay in the summer was pretty small meaning the transfer budget was largely untouched. There is a spectre of FFP and UEFA hanging around, but there is no suggestion City do not have money to spend now. The allegations about abuse of FFP relate back to earlier times. More worrying is City are still being investigated with regards to youth signings. Barcelona and many other clubs have been sanctioned for abuses of youth player signings and the punishment tends to be a transfer ban.

So, City have money to spend and if there is a potential transfer sanction coming, then there may be some onus on us to get active in the transfer market now. Before selling clubs start adding a further premium based on our desperation!

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Looking at our squad, the weaknesses which were present last summer are still there, if anything they may have been exacerbated. Fernandinho is a little older and we have no replacement player in our squad. Mendy’s continual treatment means we have no designated left back. Looking ahead we should also be planning for the eventual replacement of Aguero.

So we have money to spend, some onus to spend it, our squad could do with a boost and there are some deficits we could address, but Pep keeps saying we will not be buying in January. That is simply not making any sense to the City fans, who are looking at a tired and thin squad struggling in these winter months.

Perhaps Guardiola is simply playing a game. Maybe there are active negotiations in the background which are at a delicate stage. Maybe we are playing poker with the price. Or maybe he is stating a desire to not mess with the dressing room. We know he likes to work with squads of a certain size – where every player has a realistic chance of making appearances.

It is my view we should seek left back cover immediately. Although Mendy is looking at a February return there is no guarantee he will stay injury free. Whether that cover is short term or long term is the only discussion.

Fernandinho needs cover as well. That will cost us because there are few quality replacements around. But if we have to break the bank for Ndombele or De Jong then we should do it now.

Finally, adding a third striker will provide competition for the misfiring Jesus and may even give us a plan B. Maybe we could even stand a chance of converting one of the 15 corners we gain every game if we buy the right player. A third choice striker does not have to be £100 million plus.

I hope that Guardiola changes his mind and adds at least 2 players in January. I consider in order to really stand a chance of winning a trophy it is a necessity.