In the early morning of March 2, Manchester City will face Championship side Petersburg United away in the fifth round of the FA Cup, and the Premier League will face the first place in the Championship, and the gap between the two sides in this game can be described as very large. With Manchester City's ability to abuse dishes, the promotion is naturally in hand. At the pre-match press conference, Guardiola spoke about the veteran Fernandinho and praised the 36-year-old Brazilian back.
The 36-year-old Fernandinho has remained in excellent form this season, scoring 1 goal and 2 assists in 20 games in all competitions. At the back, he was Rodri's only authentic substitute. Guardiola expressed satisfaction with the veteran's performance, "When I started coaching Manchester City, Fernandinho was already here, he always performed well, he did very well when the team needed him. ”
Fernandinho renewed his contract with Manchester City for a year last summer, and now that it is almost time for his contract to expire, Guardiola has not answered directly as always for the stay of the beloved general, but said that the end of the season will be decided. It is worth mentioning that Fei Bird completed the renewal of his contract last year on June 29, 2021, which is the penultimate day after the end of his contract. It seems that this time, even if Manchester City renews the contract, it is still going to drag out until the last moment. However, from the tone of Guardiola's tone, it can be heard that the Brazilian veteran will continue to stay in the Etihad is not a big problem.
In fact, Manchester City is not very manned in the back position, Spain international Rodri has performed well in these two seasons, but in the long season, Rodri's physical strength is also exhausted, so every time he reaches the closing stage, his performance will decline sharply. In last season's Champions League final, Guardiola abandoned the sluggish Rodri and used Gundogan to play a single back, only to be killed by Chelsea and watch his opponent take away the coveted Champions League trophy. Although after the game, everyone said that Guardiola was a whole job, he estimated that it was also out of helplessness.
So, City's need for a back this summer is still obvious, and West Ham United's young England midfielder Rice is one of the candidates for gossip. However, he is very valuable and has many suitors, Manchester United and Chelsea are looking at him, and Manchester City wants to take him, which is no less difficult than last season's request for Kane. However, it can be seen from Fernandinho's stay that Manchester City may not buy a back this summer.
In recent matches, Manchester City have lost 2-3 to Tottenham Hotspur and 1-0 to Everton, and Guardiola's frontless side has once again been greatly tested. It also made them strong again with the idea of reinforcing the front line, and Norwegian centre-forward Haaland was The ultimate target for Manchester City. Germany's Bild newspaper said Haaland was eager to prove his desire in the Premier League to give Manchester City a lead in the chase with him, and this summer, City would take him to the Etihad at any cost to meet all his financial requirements. Rough estimates suggest that Haaland would earn £29.4 million a year at around £565,000 a week if he joined Manchester City, the highest salary in the Premier League, and that doesn't include his bonus. But in this way, the Premier League is really going to have a big finale.