Evaluating Man City's Summer signings' first season

Manchester City made 4 signings this season to help retain their treble winners status. These signings were Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic, and Jérémy Doku. These signings were to replace the players that we sold, being Cole Palmer, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte and our captain İlkay Gündoğan. A lot of pressure was put on these players as they were entering a squad that is seen as one of the best in football history and were replacing fundamental players in that squad, especially İlkay Gündoğan.

1. Matheus Nunes

First up is the former Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes. Many people expressed their surprise when city signed the Portuguese player for 62 million euros. This is because many people did not see how he would fit into the squad and if this would be another Kalvin Phillips situation. However, this was not the outcome as Matheus made 31 appearances across all competitions throughout the seasons, getting 5 assists. whilst this is not the most successful season stat wise, it is a promising start and we could see Nunes really grow into the squad.

2. Mateo Kovacic

Kovacic was the first signing the Cityzens made as he was brought in to try and fill the shoes left by our legend İlkay Gündoğan. The Croatian skipper was signed for 30 million euros from Chelsea in the summer. Mateo's signing showed a pattern amongst the squad. This was that Pep Guardiola has started favouring players who have a skill at carrying the ball forward, such as Jack Grealish, Kovacic and later Doku. Mateo has been an important player in the squad this season, making 46 appearances, netting 3 goals and getting 1 assist. Overall, Kovacic's season has not been bad but he could definitely do better next season in getting goal involvements.

3. Jérémy Doku

Jérémy Doku is a skillfull dribbler with lightning pace, and follows the pattern of players who can carry the ball well. He was signed from Stade Rennais fro 60 million euros. He had an electric start to his Manchester City career, scoring 7 goals and getting 10 assists in 45 appearences for the treble winners. Doku has been seen as an alternative to Jack Grealish at times, whilst both are good at holding the ball, Doku favours driving it forward and going into one-on-one situations against defenders whilst Jack favours passing the ball to keep possession. Overall, Doku has had a great first season at the Etihad and has a promising future.

4. Josko Gvardiol

Lastly, we have Josko Gvardiol. Josko is a 21-year-old Croatian defender City signed from RB Leipzig in Germany for 90 million euros, making one of the most expensive defenders of all time. Josko had a quiet start to life at City, not having bad performances, but not having good ones either. Then a switch was flipped about half way through the season, and we saw a different side to Gvardiol. Josko started to shine on the ball, especially when attacking, and even scored 5 goals and got 3 assists. This really showed his value and was definitely a big factor in Manchester City retaining the Premier League and becoming the first team to win the league for years in a row. Overall, Josko has had a great first season and can definitely be expected to be a key player for Pep next year.