Transfer strategy

Manchester City may have won a domestic treble last season, but Pep Guardiola thinks now is the time to shake up the squad. He wants more competition for places and to discard some players who are becoming annoyed by a lack of game time. There are three factors involved in the strategy.

Firstly, City will not pay over the odds for players; secondly, targets will only be pursued to improve weak areas of the squad; and lastly, there will be an emphasis on signing “homegrown” players, as is defined by the Premier League. City have 17 players who are not “homegrown” (i.e. they did not spend three years at a British club before reaching the age of 21), which is the maximum number