A host of established stars could leave Manchester City this summer as Pep Guardiola seeks to avoid what Jurgen Klopp has endured during this term.
Manchester City have effectively finished football in the last 12 months. The Etihad club scored a remarkable treble last weekend and won the Champions League for the first time in their history, fresh from winning the FA Cup and Premier League.
No team in England has achieved the same treble since Manchester United in 1999, surpassing Pep Guardiola’s level of achievement. Still, the Spaniard doesn’t want to sit back and enjoy his triumph as recent news suggests some sort of makeover could be on the cards. According to The Athletic, several established artists could be set to leave Manchester this summer, including Kyle Walker, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte, while Bernardo Silva and İlkay Gündoğan also face an uncertain future. Walker in particular is attracting interest from Bayern Munich, where the 33-year-old is making a dramatic start.
It remains to be seen who will stay and who will leave, but the rumors are interesting from a Liverpool perspective. Last summer, the Reds had to undergo a similar overhaul at Anfield but Jürgen Klopp made the mistake of sticking with his trusted lieutenants for yet another grueling season.
For example, 37-year-old James Milner was offered a one-year contract extension. Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcântara have been given the authority to continue delivering to the park’s center every week, even though the former is 33 and the latter is 32.
Fabinho was considered one of Liverpool’s youngest midfielders, but the Brazilian is still 29 and has played around 28,000 minutes in the league alone during his career. The South American has always performed on Merseyside, but he may not be as mobile or energetic as he once was.
Klopp has retained the services of players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, both of whom will leave on a free transfer this summer when their contracts expire. Overall, after looking at the decisions made around a year ago, it is perhaps unsurprising that Liverpool have continued to struggle. The Reds finished fifth in the Premier League meaning Champions League football will not be seen at Anfield next season, and Klopp’s men have also managed to skip any cup competition until the end of the season. Mid-March release title delivered to the delight of fans.
Liverpool’s time for a rebuild was 12 months ago, but the Reds missed the boat and suffered the consequences. Manchester City almost seem to have learned their lesson with Guardiola set to sever ties with several first-team regulars this summer to freshen things up.
Klopp is currently righting the wrongs of last year. He has already signed Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Hove Albion, leaving behind several big names including Milner and Roberto Firmino. Liverpool will invest in the transfer market in the coming months. Mac Allister is off to a good start but more reinforcements need to arrive for the Reds to enter a new era of success and rival Manchester City once again.
