Guardiola chooses ‘signing to fix’ Man City ‘crisis’ as ‘shows’ one star ‘exit door’

December 8, 2024
7:00 pm

Man City boss Pep Guardiola has identified Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi as the player to ‘fix’ his ‘crisis’ at the Etihad Stadium, according to reports.

The Citizens made a good start to the new Premier League season under Guardiola with seven wins from their opening nine matches.

However, Man City then lost four Premier League matches in a row before a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in midweek ended that run with Guardiola’s side struggling without Rodri in the middle of the park.

The Citizens dropped points again on Saturday as they drew 2-2 against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in their eighth winless match in nine in all competitions.

Man City are currently fourth in the Premier League, one point behind Chelsea and Arsenal, while Guardiola’s side are eight points behind leaders Liverpool, although all three sides currently have a game in hand.

Spain international Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or at the end of October, picked up a serious knee injury against Arsenal on September 22 and was ruled out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

And now reports in Spain claim that Guardiola has chosen Real Sociedad’s Zubimendi as the ‘signing to fix City’s crisis’ after ‘asking for reinforcements in January’.

Their recent run of poor form ‘has set off alarm bells at the Premier League champions’ and Guardiola ‘has not been able to hide how much he is missing Rodri’.

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And now the Catalan will restore balance to his side by attempting to sign ‘one of the most outstanding midfielders in LaLiga’ in the form of Zubimendi with the Spaniard’s qualities not going ‘unnoticed’ by the Man City boss.

The Citizens are ‘already working on a strategy to sign Zubimendi’ in the January transfer window but Real Sociedad are ‘not willing to negotiate and will refer any interested party to the full payment of the clause’.

Reports in Spain have also claimed that Guardiola has shown Kevin de Bruyne ‘the exit door’ at Man City ahead of next summer with the Catalan coach ‘planning a profound restructuring of the team’.

De Bruyne scored in their recent 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest but ‘tensions’ between Guardiola and the Belgium international have now reached a peak and the Man City boss is not ‘willing to compromise his playing philosophy for names, regardless of their history’.