Manchester City were largely ridiculed for their spending in the early days of their takeover, with Sheikh Mansour taking over the club in 2008 and investing heavily in the club, seeing a massive upturn in performance for the Citizens.
However, in the last five seasons, City’s net spend is £-308,749m, with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham all having a higher net spend in that time.
Season
Net spend (£)
2020/21
£-91,253m
2021/22
£-37,621m
2022/23
£5,981m
2023/24
£-100,767m
2024/25
£-85,085m
A lack of heavy investment over the years has allowed Pep Guardiola to keep a tight-knit group, only adding vital pieces to the puzzle and not disturbing the overall dynamics too much, but this has now caught up with them, with the squad now entering a period of heavy rebuilding.
Manchester City's big rebuild in 2025
Manchester City invested heavily in the January transfer market, looking to strengthen Guardiola’s side to ensure that even in their poor run of form, they had enough to challenge for Champions League qualification. The Citizens spent around £181m making five new signings.
Players such as Vitor Reis and Juma Bah were clearly signed with the future in mind, but the likes of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov have all made instant impacts on Guardiola’s side, adding much-needed energy and athleticism.
The dynamics Marmoush has provided alongside Erling Haaland since his arrival has been a breath of fresh air, stretching the pitch with runs in beyond the big man, working hard to win second balls and not being afraid to get his shots off.
The 26-year-old has made ten appearances since joining the club, scoring four goals in 666 minutes played.
Both Khusanov and Gonzalez have been important too, adding extra defensive quality, especially in transition moments, for this City side, who have often looked dead on their feet this season.
Gonzalez has particularly caught the eye of Guardiola with the boss describing him as a “mini Rodri.”
But as good as all of these additions have been so far, City will want to continue their spending in the summer and in order to do so, they will need to part ways with some bigger names, allowing them to invest further in the squad.
How Man City can sell to buy this summer
It isn’t just about selling to generate funds to spend, but it is also to open up wage funds by offloading high earners who aren’t justifying their salaries.
The likes of Kevin De Bruyne on £400k-per-week and Jack Grealish on £300k-per-week are both players who could leave the club this summer, which would open up significant wage funds for City.
Another is cult hero Bernardo Silva. Currently taking home £300k-per-week, he could find himself replaced in the summer with fresh legs.
Now 30 years of age, the Portuguese is approaching the latter stages of his career and hasn’t exactly set the world alight this term across his 39 appearances scoring three goals and providing four assists.
In every single metric analysed below, Silva has fallen, only substantiating the fact that his performance levels are getting worse in a City shirt.
Goals
0.27
0.10
Assists
0.25
0.10
xG
0.16
0.13
xAG
0.27
0.15
Progressive Carries
4.94
3.69
Progressive Passes
6.20
4.65
Shots Total
1.46
1.09
Key Passes
2.19
1.70
Shot-Creating Actions
4.59
3.43
Ball Recoveries
3.51
2.95
Sadly, he’s offering far less output, notably creating far fewer opportunities for his teammates to score from.
He’s also particularly less effective in build up in terms of progression and even dropping off slightly in his defensive work, notably ball recoveries.
Described as “world-class” by pundit Dion Dublin over his time at Manchester City, now could be the time for them to get his high wages off the books and reinvest in a younger core group of players, allowing Guardiola to kick-start this new Manchester City era.
Since joining the club back in 2017 from Monaco, Silva has earned over £50m in wages at Manchester City, with his current contract set to expire in June 2026. Perhaps it’s time for a change?
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