The chances came and went for Inter Milan as its bid for a fourth UEFA Champions League title slipped away. In a game, many didn’t expect the Italian side to hold a candle against the champions of England, Simone Inzaghi’s men played out a brilliant game plan to no avail.
When Federico Di Marco’s goal bound header struck Romelu Lukaku’s leg and Lukaku’s version of a goal bound header hit Man City goalkeeper Ederson, Pep Guardiola must have realized something different was coming for his side.
For many years, Guardiola’s group found itself on the wrong side of such situations; case in point Raheem Sterling’s miss from six yards out in a 1-3 loss to Olympique Lyon in the Round of 16 stage.
While that sounds and feels too far back, the 2021-2022 Champions League season misery for Man City is a bit fresher. City was on its way to a second final appearance in a row before Real Madrid turned on the charm and nicked past them.
Speaking of Champions League finals, Man City’s debut appearance wasn’t pleasant either as Kai Havertz’s goal unknowingly provided the last hurrah for the Roman Abramovic era at Stamford Bridge. In a strange twist of fate, it was Guardiola’s men who played like Inter Milan typically would by grabbing a well worked goal and managing the game the rest of the way.
Since City’s Abu Dhabi royalty led takeover, trophies have come consistently chiefly thanks to Guardiola but the Spaniard had yet to really distinguish himself. Guardiola has five Premier League titles, four EFL, two FA Cups and two Community Shield titles to his credit at the Etihad Stadium but Roberto Mancini won the FA Cup and the league title while Manuel Pellegrini won the league and two EFL titles.
The only missing trophy in the collector’s item was the Holy Grail-the Champions League and winning it makes Pep Guardiola the greatest manager of all time. Yes he has worked with world class talent backed by billions of dollars but many have failed to succeed working with big egos under such intense pressure of expectations that come with assembling an ensemble cast.
Plus there is the incredible feat of winning a treble with two clubs in two different countries while influencing the football culture in both countries
With that out of the way, Guardiola can focus on setting a new record at least domestically by winning the EPL title for a fourth time in a row after matching Sir Alex Ferguson’s three peat winning campaign with Manchester United.
That is the only reason Pep stays after accomplishing the mission he was taken to England for.
Notice there was no mention of a successful defence of the Champions League title in the aforementioned line because it looks unrealistic for City to achieve this feat next season.
This is all down to a series of expected series of exits from the club after reaching club football nirvana.
This sounds absurd considering Man City’s immense financial backing means no player is beyond capture but while getting players is no problem, getting them to flourish in Pep’s system right away is the major hurdle.
Man City’s 100 million pound man Jack Grealish is a prime example of a player who struggled mightily in his debut season in Pep’s system but has thrived since. Nathan Ake and John Stones are embodying testaments of this belief too so new top players can get drafted into Man City this offseason but getting them to produce at the premium level Pep demands is near impossible.
Now back to the series of exits that is surely coming and beats down City’s chances of winning a second Champions League title on the bounce.
Ilkay Gundogan
The 32 year old German international has been on the radar of Arsenal and Barcelona reportedly after a storming end to the season served as a reminder that he is still an elite player. The Gunners expect to have a hole in their three man unit in the starting lineup due to Granit Xhaka’s heavily linked move to the Bundesliga.
Gundogan is familiar with a three man midfield unit and is also familiar with Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta who worked with him during Arteta’s time as Pep’s assistant.
Getting title winners Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from Man City seemingly wasn’t enough for Arsenal to win the Premier League title. Perhaps a third trip to that well could be the trick for the London side to get its hands on the EPL title.
Beyond Arsenal and Barcelona, offers from Saudi Arabian clubs have come in for Gundogan with financial implications way higher than those of Arsenal and Barcelona.
After nabbing a prominent Muslim player like Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, getting another high profile Muslim footballer to the Saudi league would be another great scoop. Replacing Gundogan is certainly a tough act to pull off.
Riyad Mahrez
Speaking of accomplished Muslim players, Riyad Mahrez comes to mind and after winning everything there is to win including a very unlikely EPL title with Leicester City and an African title with Algeria, the time is ripe for one final money laden move.
Winning the Champions League is the best closure to a remarkable career of one of Africa’s best and winding down such a career with a 50 million euros per year payout is far from shabby.
Mahrez’s skillset can translate to high level production outside Guardiola’s heavily rotated system among Europe’s top divisions but with nothing left to prove, a trip to the Gulf region isn’t a bad option to explore.
Kyle Walker
Though the veteran defender was named in the Champions League team of the 2022-2023 season with six Man City teammates, he still struggles to earn full on trust from Pep Guardiola to execute the latter’s game plan.
Consistently, Walker has missed out on games because Guardiola deems the speedster not fit to play the role including the Champions League final against Inter; making matters worse, Guardiola made Walker’s shortcomings public.
Walker has become more of a role player whose services are needed when Man City plays Real Madrid and needs a guy to handle the dangerous Vinicius Jr. Even at his advanced age, Walker continues to win individual duels against players like Vini and Kylian Mbappe who are nine years younger than him. As a player with more to give than the measly minutes handed to him by Pep, Walker has been linked with moves to Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and West Ham.
Aymeric Laporte
There is a huge market for a 29 year old left footed defender with immense passing range, calmness on the ball and ball carrying skills who stands at 6 foot 3 inches and that is the case for the French born Spanish international.
Manuel Akanji’s mid-season addition has buried Laporte deep in the Man City defensive center back rotation and a way to the starting lineup is far off.
Only a move from the Etihad and regular minutes gets Laporte into Spain’s national team.
Aside Gundogan and another likely departure candidate in Bernardo Silva, the main suspects to leave Man City in the coming weeks are essentially bench players but their importance to the team’s unparalleled depth chart shouldn’t be underestimated.
Missing out on this group of players well drilled in Pep’s system is sure to haunt Man City’s chances of winning next season’s UEFA Champions League.