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Pep Guardiola has been told that his greatest challenge will be to keep Manchester City fighting for the title in the toughest Premier League in history.

Blues chiefs admit privately that they have been caught on the hop by the way Leicester have stormed the top four, and by beefed-up teams like West Ham and Stoke.

But they also predict that this season is not a one-off, and that increasing TV revenues will only make the Premier League – already the hardest league to win in Europe – even harder.

The feeling at City is that in their current state, England's top four clubs have an almost impossible task to remain competitive in the Champions League in midweek while winning in the Premier at weekends.

That is illustrated by City's forthcoming quarter-final against Paris St Germain – the Blues face a tricky trip to Bournemouth and a tough encounter with West Brom either side of the first leg in France on April 6.

By contrast, PSG have already strolled to the French league title and so can rest players in the run-up to both games against City.

And it will only get tougher. The success of the Premier League means that next season even the bottom clubs will get £100million in TV revenue, along with at least £15million from tickets and £15million from commercial streams.

So the lowest Premier League clubs are now in the market for some of Europe's top players – that is why we have seen Riyad Mahrez rocking up at Leicester, Dmitri Payet at West Ham and Xherdan Shaqiri at Stoke.

That trend is set to continue, with Premier wage bills soaring.

City's edge has been an ability to compete for the best players available, but to gain an edge domestically and compete in Europe they need elite stars.

And that means they are competing for players with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG, the only Continental clubs who are on the same level as England's top money-makers.

The view at City is that there is a world elite group of ten players who make a difference – Sergio Aguero is one, but getting hold of the others is extremely difficult, even though the Blues constantly try.

So they are in the same market as the rest of the Premier League, looking to buy from the next level, of 200-300 very good players – although they can afford to cherry-pick what they see as the best.

In effect, City and the other top clubs are being squeezed from both sides, facing more intense football competition at home and big competition for players from Europe's richest clubs, at home and abroad.

So how can City find an edge again?

The appointment of Guardiola is clearly the first phase in moving back to being one step ahead of the rest.

Pep is expected to get the most out of the current squad, which will be bolstered by four or five signings this summer.

The club hierarchy also feels that Guardiola's magnetism will help them to attract the best players from that second level, and hopefully any elite stars who become available.

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He is also expected to implement the introduction of City's young talents, to the point where the club hopes half of the first-team squad will have come through their academy by 2021.

They hope to effect that by developing young English talent – their under-15s, under-16s and under-18s are all extremely good – as well as bringing in the best young foreign talent, like Manu Garcia and Brahim Diaz.

City hope that, given the right environment, Guardiola will stay beyond his initial three-year contract and help to develop an ethos for the club which will run from top to bottom, as it does at Barcelona.

The Blues will also join other top clubs in pushing for tweaks to the English season to lighten their workload.

These include a winter break in early January, the abolition of FA Cup replays and League Cup semi-finals as one-match affairs.

How can City get back to being one step ahead of the game? Have your say below