Manchester City have been unusually quiet in the current transfer market.
Manuel Pellegrini has managed to sign only one player so far in the form of young Turkish forward, Enes Unal. On the contrary, the Citizens has seen a number of first team members exit the Etihad this season, which will leave fans questioning the club’s transfer policy.
City’s rivals in the league have all snapped up at least one big-name player thus far, with Manchester United attaining the services of Memphis Depay, Chelsea signing Radamel Falcao and Arsenal wrapping up the transfer of veteran Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. Liverpool has been miles ahead of the pack after it officially confirmed the signing of six players. City have yet to make a high-profile signing but things do not look good for Pellegrini at the moment.
The Sky Blues were believed to have identified players like Paul Pogba, Jack Wilshere, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne as their prime targets, but have failed in their attempts to sign them so far. With preseason not far away, Pellegrini will hope to have added fresh faces to the squad prior to the beginning of their Australian tour. The club will not want to leave it too late to sign its targets and fans will be pushing for a deal to be completed soon. City seem to have hit a road block in their pursuit of Pogba and Sterling while Wilshere looks likely to stay at Arsenal for now. The Sterling transfer saga has been dragging on ever since the end of last season and it is likely to drag on until the start of next season.
City’s transfer approach has made it clear that they are not willing to splash the cash as they aim to get their deals done for as little as possible but are they wasting valuable time with such a strategy? If the Sky Blues are chasing these high-profile targets, they must make peace with the fact that they have to either cave into paying up or look for cheaper alternatives. Either way, City must get some deals through the door as soon as possible.
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Last season, eventual champion Chelsea wrapped up its business very early, meaning it had a complete squad going into preseason, something Pellegrini will be hopeful for as well. New players may require time to settle into their teams and adjust to their respective tactics, especially if they are arriving from overseas. It can work as a base for a team’s entire season, so having a full squad at the manager’s disposal at this stage is even more necessary. City will head to Australia for their preseason, where they will play four of their five scheduled preseason friendlies and fans will be eager to see some new faces dawning the sky blue for the first time.
City begin their tour in less than a week by facing A-League clubs Adelaide United and Melbourne City before taking on Roma and Real Madrid in the 2015 International Champions Cup.
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