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Bernardo, Jesus and Laporte’s reaction to staying the big unknown in Manchester City’s window
By Sam Lee 4h ago 17
It’s fair to say that Manchester City fans aren’t unanimously in favour of their club’s overall summer transfer business, but there is a feeling — relief, perhaps even happiness — that some of the club’s best players have not left.
Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Gabriel Jesus, in particular, have already shown their quality again this season and it would be difficult to argue at this point that the reigning Premier League champions are worse off with them than they’d be without them.
Especially because City have not strengthened as anticipated. They did not get the No 9 that they wanted (or any alternative), so it is surely a good thing that they have kept so many good players?
To highlight his satisfaction with their window, Pep Guardiola keeps making the point that his squad is the same as it was last season, just with one change.
“Absolutely. More than happy,” he said. “It’s the same team, except Sergio (Aguero) for Jack Grealish, that we had last season.”
The thing is, that’s not what he, or City, wanted at all.
“You have to shake,” the Catalan said towards the end of last season, explaining how managers keep their teams at the top. They need to move unhappy players out and bring new faces in.
By that measure, City have not shaken at all, so is it a good thing that they have retained so many top-class players who, nevertheless, wanted or needed to go?
“You will see during the season, when we are not able to score a goal, how many people are going to say that we need a striker,” Guardiola said after his team’s third successive 5-0 Premier League home win on Saturday, anticipating the narrative.
Indeed, City’s failure to sign Harry Kane, or anybody else to spearhead their attack, will most likely be cited as the chief cause whenever they don’t win a match this season — and there will be times when to do so is completely justified.
But if there comes a time, like in 2019-20, when City cannot string a run of wins together and things just aren’t clicking, another big factor could be that they have kept the squad more or less as it was last season.
It must be said that things are looking good so far.
The Tottenham defeat on the opening weekend could be put down to an evident lack of fitness and a fairly makeshift team, and since then City have clicked very quickly, with some of those players who could have left playing key roles.
There was an outpouring of emotion, on all sides, on Saturday afternoon when Bernardo looked upset after being substituted against Arsenal. It’s been well established since the end of last season that the player was available for sale, and while the initial news came as a shock to supporters, it was only over the weekend that it was made clear just how popular the 27-year-old Portugal international is and just how much they want him to stay.
He is showing his value yet again; City need to be careful with Kevin De Bruyne’s ankle in case the issue is aggravated and he needs surgery, and already this season Bernardo has helped cover for the Belgian’s absence.
Bernardo and Gabriel Jesus could have left this summer (Photo: Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
And Laporte is on track to win back his place in the team. The opposition in the last two games may have been meagre in Norwich and Arsenal but he has been at his imperious best so far, and with Guardiola picking his team on merit, the Spain international is back in the starting XI.
Jesus looks like a revelation on the right wing, too, with three assists and a goal to his name from those two 5-0 home wins. He has always preferred playing from the wing and while he never really convinced for City on the left, he could be a real threat on the opposite flank.
So what’s not to like? It may look like a fairly downbeat take to suggest that these players may, even indirectly, hamper City’s chances of success this season but that was precisely the club’s logic a few months ago. They wanted to shake things up and move on players who were not happy with their situations to give the team a better chance of winning more silverware.
Now, maybe those same situations change and things go well. That is definitely possible.
If De Bruyne were to need surgery, Bernardo would play every week. If Laporte becomes a first-choice centre-back again, he will be much happier. If Jesus keeps playing well, he will stay in the team, his confidence will be high and he could cement his City future — he has two years left on his contract.
Just last year, John Stones could have left, with his stock very low, but he had such a successful reversal of fortunes that he ended up in the Premier League’s team of the year. Although one difference is that the England defender never wanted to leave in the first place.
If things don’t go as smoothly as they have done in the last two games, the perception of this summer’s transfer window could change quite quickly. Maybe De Bruyne avoids surgery, Ferran Torres nails down the No 9 role and suddenly Bernardo’s first-team opportunities are harder to come by, especially with Grealish now around.
Stones has a lot of credit in the bank after the way he bounced back from his issues and if he returns to the team it would not improve Laporte’s situation. If there’s one thing Jesus has struggled with during his time at City it’s consistency, so that’s a potential problem too.
Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez might be good examples to highlight that things can’t always be ideal, at a time when Bernardo, Laporte and Jesus are flying. Sterling wasn’t happy at the end of last season either and could have left had an offer come in, partly due to having two years left on his deal too. Mahrez is another with that long remaining on his contract, and City would have listened to offers had he wanted to go, which they suspected.
No such bids for Sterling or Mahrez arrived (contract talks will take place) and they have both been on the bench for the last two games. Phil Foden will be back in contention after injury soon, too, which increases the competition for places for Sterling, and of course, Grealish is in the mix this season. There will be players in this squad who don’t play as much as they want to in the coming months, and that was also the issue last season.
The obvious point here, though, is that issue didn’t stop City winning a third Premier League title in four seasons and reaching their first Champions League final. In all of those scenarios above — De Bruyne avoiding surgery, Torres nailing down the No 9 spot, Foden coming back — things are still pretty rosy.
City have so many good players, and the other important business they did this summer was to tie most of them down on long-term deals. De Bruyne signed one in May, Stones and centre-back partner Ruben Dias followed in August.
Ederson will be next. Foden, most likely, won’t be long after and there could be others to come.
So, when Guardiola says that the squad is the same, even though that’s not what he was planning, he’s right to have cause for optimism.
While playing time was the root of most players’ unhappiness last season, the spirit among the players themselves is generally very, very good and they have shown they can put everything to one side and win trophies, even with some grumpy faces in the dressing room. They could do that again.
It is well known, though, that it’s usually harder to stay at the top than it is to get there, and with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United in good positions to challenge for the title, it’s fair to say that City’s fight to retain the championship will be incredibly tough.
They did not want to be doing it without a proven No 9 and the truth is that they did want to move on some players who are still there.
So did City have a good transfer window? We simply don’t know yet.
Let's be honest: This City squad is loaded.
Ryan D.
De Bruyne and surgery seemed to pop up more than I would have liked. Does it look likely?
Devadatta P.
3h ago
In big matches city will need someone in the box. Not filling the void might cost us later. A good season will be fighting for all the cups till the very end. And keep the players happy.
Someone needs to convince Bernado and Laporte to stay.
John M.
We can’t win the league every single year. We were right to wait for a striker at the right price and to not accept too little for BS and AL. We need to keep a mid term view and accept there will be peaks and slight troughs. I desperately wanted to sign Kane and I think all 3 parties will rue that not happening but I’m glad we didn’t do it at any cost. We are in a good place!
Andy W.
17m ago
I agree. I can imagine how the conversation between Pep and the Board went. He saying Kane and Grealish are priorities and accepting certain 'unhappy' players may go to facilitate both captures. But I dare say the conversation drew on the financial consequences that 18 months of lockdown had upon clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona who may otherwise come fishing for Jesus, Laporte and/or Bernardo.
I believe that these circumstances led City to push for just those two players only. The Ronaldo business was just part of a media circus in which we never really entered the ring. No, when it came to not getting Kane the next option on Pep's transfer list was to leave things exactly as they where.
Parimal A.
2h ago
Players will surely become grumpy again. There are far too many players for the wide positions to get regular game time. And with Mendy in custody, the left back problem has grown considerably.
Philaiporn C.
2h ago
1 like
With it looking like we need to consider Mendy not available (good), an unconvincing right footed Cancelo, and reliable Zinchenko, why oh why have we not got a LB in. I know Ake and Laporte could also play there but we really need a top LB. In left midfield the choice will probably be Gundogan or Grealish, upfront the choice will be Grealish, Sterling and Foden, an non of those players offer a LB decent defensive cover. Needs sorting City!
Robert M.
1h ago
I agree. I’m surprised there wasn’t more activity to find a left back, especially now that Mendy will be out all season.
Lutho N.
1h ago
Obvious problems aside. When Sterling is in the side missing opportunities, does that weaken the squad?
Like when you watching the game objectively, he makes such good runs and is always going to be in a good position because of his speed but when he inevitably misses that chance does that make City weaker because he will get another chance simply because he has that ability?
Is the problem that we don't have a striker or is the problem that we have players that consistently miss good opportunities?
Are the two synonymous and does this affect the squads ability to create goal scoring opportunities?
I have questions clearly but I'm hoping to arrive at an answer when football continues.
With all due respect, I think we still have the most complete squad by far among big 4, even without a proper no.9. I still consider Liverpool to be our biggest contenders for the title, with our chances slightly above them.
Florian D.48m ago Hi Sam, I heard that Ajax Left Back Tagliafico had been offered to some clubs over the last few days. Would he not have been a good (and affordable) addition to City as a attacking left back? Especially considering the current predicament in that position…
I think we are all also forgetting an extremely underlying issue with the no of options we've got as fullbacks especially the LB role, we don't have a back up LB and losing mendes to PSG hurts, cancelo as a makeshift LB works only for a time period so we needed cover for that position and I'm really dissappointed we didn't grab the opportunity to sign Mendes not to mention zinnys a bit injury prone as well
There is something deeply revealing about modern football in this story. There are players - presumably Bernardo, Laporte, Sterling and others - who are miserable and don’t want to be there. But nobody else, who might be able to afford to buy them and pay them, wants them. The solution: a new contract. The result: players sign to stay longer at clubs they don’t want to be at after only receiving offers from a club that wants to move them on. The unhappy marriage continues
Good point. I dare say that the extended contracts are to protect the selling club. Come next summer Jesus and Mahrez for example have just 12 months remaining and their sale value will plummet. Financial management of a EPL club It's a difficult beast to tame and a job I wouldn't go anywhere near
Moses O. 34m ago City has one of the best squads in the EPL rivalled only by Chelsea. They will be good again bar disaster wrought by injuries.
Aug 27 Ferran Torres cut a Vardy-like figure against Arsenal which offers an interesting alternative to Ronaldo or Kane
Kane was meant to galvanise City’s team – now he’s not coming, where does it leave them?
Sam Lee
by Mase » Tue Aug 31, 2021 11:45 am 
