Manchester City is still one of the best in Europe, and the game against Real Madrid is also considered to be the most expensive game in the Champions League this season, although they are temporarily behind Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League, but no one ignores the depth of Manchester City's strong squad, and they are still the strongest contenders for the league title. However, City's strength is also not stable, the problems still need to be solved in the summer window, the threat from the Saudi league and the players' ideas remains, and if it is not dealt with, the strong midfield will fall apart.
Judging from the current news, Manchester City's two core midfielders are likely to leave the team at the end of this season, De Bruyne's contract renewal issue has not been resolved, and the liquidated damages clause of seat B will also take effect at the end of this season, and the figure of 59 million euros does not pose much of a threat to most giants, even if Barcelona is limited by financial problems, they also intend to use installments to get the core of the Portuguese midfield. Manchester City did not have a good solution to this, the attitude of the players was too clear, and even Pep Guardiola could not force the players to stay again.
On the contrary, there is still room for De Bruyne's problem to be solved, but Manchester City management does not have enough confidence in the future of the Belgian midfielder, otherwise with De Bruyne's current performance, it is completely possible to end the contract renewal negotiations ahead of schedule, and the two sides will complete the contract renewal again. However, De Bruyne's injury situation is not ideal, and renewing his contract requires at least maintaining the current salary standard, and the core position will not change much in the next few years, and Manchester City's management is also making measurements to confirm whether De Bruyne can maintain his current form and how long he can keep it.
However, Manchester City is also actively preparing for changes in midfield, on the one hand, adjusting the existing squad and developing young players including Foden and Alvarez, and on the other hand, they are also looking for suitable players to replace them in the transfer market. According to English media, West Ham United's Paqueta is still Manchester City's number one target, Guardiola is very satisfied with the Brazilian midfielder, the previous salary contract between the two sides is still valid, the personal agreement will not change, both sides agreed to complete the transfer in the summer window, but it depends on the attitude of West Ham United.
Manchester City was close to completing the Paqueta deal last summer, but due to West Ham United's refusal and the player being investigated by the Premier League officials and could not be reached, Manchester City will continue to play in the summer window, although Paqueta's liquidated damages are around 100 million euros, but in the case of the high probability of leaving the team in seat B and De Bruyne's future is not confirmed, Manchester City needs Paqueta to join. Although Manchester City still has Nunez, Kovacic and others, they do not have enough trust from Guardiola, which is the key to completing the Paqueta deal.