The changing of the guard at Man City that could mould Pep Guardiola’s legacy | OneFootball

As Pep Guardiola sought to explain a record low, he provided an explanation that could be interpreted in different ways. Manchester City had just 32 percent of possession at the Emirates Stadium, the lowest share any of his teams had ever enjoyed (Guardiola, who said he suffered, endured the 68 percent of the match when Arsenal had the ball). “We are a transition team,” he argued.

Tactically, that feels truer than ever. They have fewer pure passers of the ilk of Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva. Their front three can feature fast, direct attackers like Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku, not midfielders masquerading as wingers and false nines. Guardiola is flanked by Jurgen Klopp’s old assistant Pep Lijnders and Liverpool tended to be more of a transition team than City.

But City are also a team in transition. This is a new-look side. After failing in their bid to halt time, they are now trying to fast-track the future. Four months ago, they faced Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium and Guardiola named a starting 11 with an average age of 29.2. As Burnley were beaten on Saturday, that dropped to 24.8. Ruben Dias, at 28, was the oldest starter in September, just the seventh oldest in May. Guardiola had noted that his bench at the weekend included experienced figures like John Stones, Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva and the captain, in particular, may have been rested ahead of the Champions League trip to Monaco, but there is a changing of the guard.

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Manchester City are in a team of transition (Getty Images)

There have been 12 signings in 2025. Meanwhile, whether on loan or permanently, six of the 2023 Champions League winners have left: Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish, Ederson and Gundogan. Two of them have already lined up at the Etihad in the colours of new employers.

City did not notice that one team was getting too old until it was too late, doing too little in the transfer market last summer and suffering last season. Now they have become proactive, not merely in buying but in tying down more youthful talents. Nico O’Reilly signed a five-year deal on Friday. Guardiola has been studying the statistics.

"I think since he started to play, we lost just one game, the FA Cup final against [Crystal] Palace,” he said; indeed City’s previous loss when the 20-year-old started was last October. "When he's not been involved it was defeats all the time,” Guardiola continued. “So Nico helped us a lot, improved a lot in his aggressivity and set-pieces and with the ball.”

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(Getty Images)

City have tended to profit from selling academy talents but can rue their decision to let Cole Palmer join Chelsea. When the Londoners bid for O’Reilly in January, they got a different answer, even though he had yet to become a talisman of the first team then. “Obviously before then I didn't get much time on the pitch,” said the makeshift left-back. “It shows that the faith in me, and you want me here.”

Now O’Reilly has followed Rico Lewis in signing a new deal. Savinho will be next. “Savinho is close,” said Guardiola. “At his age last season he played a lot of minutes. He can play on both sides, right and left, and has pace that is unbelievable.” The Brazilian attracted interest from Tottenham in the summer. City valued him at far more than the £43.6m Spurs suggested. Now they will ensure he stays.

The 21-year-old was undistinguished against Burnley, easily outshone by Doku on the opposite side, but they also reflect the tactical trend, of Guardiola embracing wingers. This is his attempt to react to a world where others first copied him and then looked to move beyond him. Doku, erratic and unpredictable, had seemed the least Guardiola of arrivals but he is adding more end product. “Jeremy's decision-making in the final third has improved, wow,” gasped his manager.

They could all form part of his legacy, with Guardiola in the last two years of his contract. The 2025 arrivals in the latter half of their twenties, in Gianluigi Donnarumma, Tijjani Reijnders and Omar Marmoush, can be seen as signings for now, players charged with ensuring they at least qualify for the Champions League and go further in it than they did last year. Many of their others look more futuristic and if the future may not arrive for a couple amid what feels confused thinking – defender Vitor Reis came in January, looked callow and has already been loaned out, James Trafford joined only to see a superior goalkeeper follow, in Donnarumma – there is a sense that 2025 marks a break from the past.

What is not clear yet is precisely where this path takes them. The exodus contained some of the City greats. Even if the influx brings in players who prove good or very good, it will be hard to emulate them. Guardiola noted a couple of weeks ago that, for once, City did not start among the favourites for the Champions League. Nor, unlike last season, were they the majority of onlookers’ tip for the Premier League. If they do regain the title, it may not be in 2026. But then a transition team are a team in transition.