Manchester City's Expensive Rebuild After Pep Guardiola
Manchester City’s response to life after Pep Guardiola has been blunt and expensive.
Two league wins on the spin. Around $400 million splashed on new players in a fortnight. More than $600 million spent across the summer. Any early doubts about their ability to hound down Arsenal in the title race have been drowned out by the sound of the club’s checkbook snapping shut.
Maresca’s squad goes from thin to overflowing
At the end of a window where no club in Europe spent more, City suddenly looks loaded again. Deadline day brought Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye through the door, pushing that eye-watering outlay beyond $600 million. Earlier in the week, Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi and Brazilian winger Allan arrived for a combined $160 million — and they’re essentially depth pieces.
Two weeks ago, Enzo Maresca was improvising. He opened the season with Marc Guehi, a center back by trade, shoved into central midfield because City had gutted the heart of the team. Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Tijjani Reijnders and others had gone, with no immediate replacements.
Now? He’s picking from a crowd.
Behind in-form playmaker Rayan Cherki, Maresca must choose two from Elliot Anderson, Fernandez and Bouaddi. Out wide, Ndiaye and Allan crash into a rotation that already includes Phil Foden, Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku. From makeshift lineups to selection headaches in a matter of days — that’s what this window has done.
Coventry walk into a storm
Coventry could hardly have picked a worse moment to visit the Etihad.
The promoted side has already been to Arsenal and escaped with a 3-0 defeat that flattered them. Now they face a City team that appears to be waking up properly after a scratchy start to the campaign and a lukewarm Community Shield, where Arsenal brushed them aside 3-0.
City’s league form is sharpening. A 2-1 win over Bournemouth, then a 4-1 victory at Crystal Palace. Those opening weeks, with an incomplete squad, a new manager bedding in and players still shaking off World Cup fatigue, might have been the window to catch them cold.
That window has slammed shut.
From this weekend on, the judgment on Maresca and his rebuilt City really begins.
Arsenal vs. Chelsea: something has to give
The headline fixture of the weekend sits in north London.
Defending champion Arsenal hosts Chelsea on Sunday, a clash between two of the four sides with a perfect six points from six. Arsenal looks like Arsenal: controlled, disciplined, miserly. They have yet to concede a goal.
Chelsea, by contrast, has cut loose in attack. Seven goals already, joint top scorers in the division. One of the league’s tightest defenses against one of its most free-flowing attacks. One record will crack.
Elsewhere, promoted Hull has quietly matched City’s start with two wins from two and now welcomes Aston Villa, who have stumbled out of the blocks with zero points.
Liverpool, stuck on back-to-back draws, travels to promoted Ipswich on Friday hunting a first victory of the season.
Big-money debuts and familiar faces
This round also offers a first real glimpse of some of the summer’s biggest signings.
Bradley Barcola could finally step onto the pitch for Liverpool after his $166 million move from Paris Saint-Germain. He didn’t play a single minute for PSG this season amid uncertainty over his future. That future now lies at Anfield, and his debut — likely from the bench — will be closely watched.
Jack Grealish is back at Everton on loan and could be thrown straight into the fire against Manchester United, with Ndiaye no longer at Goodison Park to carry the attacking burden.
Everton fans ready to voice their anger
If the football at Goodison will be tense, the stands could be even more charged.
Everton supporters are furious at a summer window that saw their best attacker, Ndiaye, sold and backup striker Beto also depart, without a replacement arriving. Late moves for Folarin Balogun and Joshua Zirkzee went nowhere, leaving the club with just one senior striker: Thierno Barry.
The fan advisory board did not hold back, issuing a statement that captured the “serious concerns” of supporters about how the club handled the window and insisting the squad is weaker than when the summer began.
“The gap between ambition and execution is now impossible to ignore, and it has damaged confidence in the planning, leadership and alignment of football operations,” the group said. “Supporters deserve clarity, accountability and evidence that lessons have been learned before further trust can be rebuilt.”
The Texas-based Friedkin Group now enters its second full season as Everton’s owner under that cloud of mistrust.
At the top end of the league, Manchester City has tried to buy certainty. At Everton, faith is the one commodity money hasn’t yet managed to restore.
