£220m splurge includes Marmoush for Grealish in perfect January transfer window for Guardiola

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City must be “wise” in the January transfer window but also insists the club “has to” make signings. We’re not entirely sure those two very disparate notions can marry with any great success and Guardiola did caution that they may not make any moves at all. But that’s no fun.

Him and the club don’t see much point in short-term signings, meaning any players ready for first-team action are likely to cost a pretty penny, made even prettier by the mid-season tax that’s bound to be added by selling clubs.

They’re not in quite the same sell-to-buy situation as Manchester United – for whom we’ve made similar fanciful predictions – but could do with making space on their wage bill and securing at least a few quid through player sales.

We’ve come up with 10 player moves – five exits and five arrivals – which we believe is the best Guardiola can hope for in the winter window.

Jack Grealish out

“Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack,” Guardiola said when asked why Grealish finds himself at the bottom of a not hugely competitive pecking order at Manchester City. “I want the Jack that won the treble,” he added.

Guardiola’s right, it does “feel unfair”, not least because pretty much everyone other than Guardiola would actually prefer to see the Jack that played for Aston Villa, with the one that won the treble seemingly not all that different to the one we see now.

387 days is a helluva long time without a goal but he was hardly previously prolific for City, and having seen what he’s capable of in the No.10 position for England this season, we would love a January move that grants him the opportunity to play and no doubt thrive in that role.

Kyle Walker out

We imagine the City bosses were cursing Lee Carsley after he recalled Walker to the England squad in October, with hope of further international caps a possible motive not to accept a lucrative contract offer from Saudi Arabia that would see City secure a greater transfer fee than they can expect from any European suitor.

Thomas Tuchel could do them a favour by informing Walker that he has no England future, with Guardiola making that decision easier by dropping him to the bench in favour of fellow England international Rico Lewis in recent weeks.

Kevin De Bruyne out

“I don’t care,” De Bruyne said when asked about negotiations over a new contract at the Etihad, with that blunt, blasé attitude on display in many of his displays with a niggling injury for City this season.

He’s made no secret of his desire for a major payday before the end of his career – which doesn’t look all that far off now given how little he’s played – and the wedge Saudi clubs would be willing to shell out in January is likely worth more to City than the bit-part role De Bruyne will be playing for them in his remaining six months at the club.

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James McAtee out

There will be more than a slight concern among City fans after Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap over letting another talented academy graduate leave the club, which is also why there will be plenty of clubs queuing up to prise McAtee away from the Etihad.

The smart move from City would be to allow his loan exit, because although there wasn’t a great deal of evidence last season that McAtee would be as regretful a sale as the aforementioned, he was playing for Sheffield United, and a move to a more established Premier League side may well see him promoted into What The F*** Were City Thinking territory.

Martin Zubimendi in

It would be fascinating to see how Manchester City would be faring had Rodri not got injured. Having been convinced for the first few weeks of them being terrible that his absence almost entirely explained them being terrible, we’ve now come round to the idea that they would probably still be struggling – though to not nearly the same extent – with him in the team.

Guardiola should have pushed for an alternative knowing full well what his absence does to the team. Even when they were good they were nowhere near as good when Rodri was rested or out through suspension. The problem was that any back-up joining in the summer would not have fancied the task of usurping the literal best footballer in the world to earn consistent game time.

That will still be a concern for Zubimendi, who now apparently does fancy a move to the Premier League, but will face the same struggle for minutes when Rodri returns from the treatment table, his hope of being a mainstay in the team presumably resting on Florentino Perez’s ‘dream’ becoming a reality.

Abdukodir Khusanov in

The other position at the top of Guardiola’s list of January priorities is centre-back. “I thought central defenders would be fit all season but we have struggled,” he said. A weird assumption to make, but they have been hit particularly hard in that area, possibly because with the exception of Ruben Dias they’re all of an age – around 30 – when muscle strains and niggles tend to be more of an issue.

When fit Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake remain three excellent defenders though; any signing able to push them for a starting spot is either going to have to be a relative unknown or cost a huge amount of money. Khusanov is the former.

Supposedly valued by City for his speed, versatility and potential, Khusanov became the first Uzbek to play in UEFA competitions last year and the Lens CEO has confirmed their plan to cash in on their prized asset, with £20m thought to be enough for his transfer in January.

Omar Marmoush in

All of the Big Six – other than Tottenham, because Daniel Levy – have been linked with Marmoush, whose form for Eintracht Frankfurt this season has been hard to ignore. He’s got 13 goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga, including two goals and an assist in the 3-3 draw with Bayern in October.

As 25 he’s something of a late bloomer having managed just 20 goals and 12 assists in 91 Bundesliga games before this season, with most of those coming last term after moving to Frankfurt from Wolfsburg. And his age – though a negative in terms of longevity – may actually be seen as a positive for City, who have a dearth of players in that mid-20s bracket generally considered to be a footballer’s prime.

Marmoush is said to have declined the recent offer of an extension in the hope of a move to the Premier League, with an offer of around £55m thought to be enough, though City may need to add a not-insignificant sweetener to land him in the middle of the season.

Nicolo Savona in

Lewis is Walker’s natural successor but Guardiola is said to be a big admirer of Savona, who has impressed for Juventus at right-back this season despite playing the majority of his youth football at centre-back.

Guardiola loves a centre-back-cum-full-back, with reports in Italy claiming Savona’s ‘pocketed’ both Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Rafael Leao this season. We can all expect a You’ll Never Beat Nicolo Savona podcast in ten years’ time.

Ederson in

One of the reasons we’re far from convinced that City would have been fine had Rodri remained fit is down to the woeful displays of the other central midfielders, one of whom would at least have been on the team sheet with him, albeit with a limited role next to the guy Who Does The Work Of Two.

Barcelona’s tiki-taka legacy has taken a hit by Ilkay Gundogan joining them for a season and returning as a midfielder scarcely able to control a ball, Mateo Kovacic is doing his World-beater For A Game And Distinctly Average For The Next Three bit and Matheus Nunes’ displays this season have been damning both for him and Jack Grealish, with his limited impact restricted to the left wing.

We haven’t seen all that much of Ederson, but we know that every big club with a few quid loves him, chiefly because he provides high levels of the energy and aggression that City crave.

Jonathan David in

It’s not going to be an easy sell. David’s first, second and fourth questions will be Erling Haaland-based if City approach his agent with an offer, with What’s The Salary? in at three.

But he could be placated by the significant role Julian Alvarez played last season, with his exit on the grounds of limited game time weird given only four players in the squad played more than him, with Haaland not one of those four.

David’s scored nearly a goal every two games in his time with Lille and will be a bargain signing given his contract expires in the summer.

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