Man City locked into £256m transfer battle with Arsenal and Liverpool

Man City locked into £256m transfer battle with Arsenal and Liverpool

Manchester City have strengthened in midfield for the upcoming season but so have two of their biggest rivals

Tijjani Reijnders has been brought in to improve Manchester City's midfield

Manchester City feel like they are in a much better place than they were when they distanced themselves from Martin Zubimendi. The man who had literally replaced Rodri in the final of the European Championship was declared not to be a Rodri replacement at club level back in December 2024.

Pep Guardiola's side were just about to lose to Aston Villa at the time as part of a grim run of form that saw them lost 15 out of 30 games across all competitions between November and March with a midfield that puffed and spluttered and too often got outplayed. When moves for Zubimendi and Bruno Guimaraes were ruled out, bewildered Blues hoped that there would be something magic up City's sleeve.

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Nico Gonzalez arrived in the final week of the January window as City belatedly moved to bring in a midfielder, although he hasn't seen much action since. Six months on from his signing, the 23-year-old has struggled to assert himself into the team.

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Since then, Kevin De Bruyne has also departed and after looking to make Florian Wirtz his replacement City stepped back as Liverpool seized the initiative before taking him to Anield for £100m. Bringing in Tijjani Reijnders for £46.3m looks like excellent business for City, although the Dutch international will not likely be as eye-catching.

Arsenal spending £60m on Zubimendi means that City's two main rivals have signed midfielders that they were interested in. Add in the £105m Declan Rice and there is plenty of room for transfer regret.

As usual, the Premier League will surely be won and lost in the midfield and City knew that they needed to reinforce theirs when they spent nearly £100m on Reijnders and Gonzalez. They have not been allowed to go unchallenged though, with Liverpool and Arsenal strengthening as well.

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Whatever happens next, all three clubs appear to have locked in their midfields for the coming season following confirmation that Zubimendi has joined Arsenal. The only surprises will be which combination works best.

City have the opportunity to champion their recruitment team if they can come through with the best midfield, trumping the big sums their rivals have spent in midfield by proving that they had the smartest picks in the market. But the stakes are high, and if Liverpool or Arsenal beat the Blues with players that were wanted at the Etihad then nobody will be talking about price tags.

City are used to missing out on players, but they cannot afford to start missing out on more trophies as a result

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