A notable surge in efforts to secure the future of Manchester City’s roster took center stage this summer, as evidenced by Jeremy Doku’s recent commitment to a new five-year agreement with the club.
Doku’s contract renewal follows on the heels of new deals for Josko Gvardiol, Phil Foden, and Abdukodir Khusanov over the past two weeks. This talented quartet is positioned as the vanguard of a fresh chapter for the City squad, one that envisions a future lacking both Pep Guardiola’s iconic leadership and many of the veteran players whose names have become synonymous with the team’s repeated triumphs.
Gvardiol and Doku, standout figures from last season, are just 24 years old, while Foden is 26, and Khusanov stands at 22. The club hopes these four talents will form the cornerstone of this transitional era for Manchester City.
Currently, navigating the demands at the pinnacle of football could hardly be more daunting—especially if Rodri makes a much-speculated move back to Spain, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid reportedly vying for his signature.
Should the World Cup’s top midfielder indeed depart, Manchester City’s leadership core would be slashed by half in a matter of months, underscoring a concerning gap in seasoned expertise—a point Maresca tactfully highlighted amidst a hot week in Seoul.
Jeremy Doku (left) has become the latest Manchester City star to commit to a new five-year contract
Defender Josko Gvardiol has also agreed fresh terms, and is a key part of the City rebuild under Enzo Maresca
Rodri will leave very large boots to fill should he leave for Barcelona or Real Madrid
Gvardiol and Foden have both publicly raised their hands to take roles in the captaincy team and there is jostling behind the scenes between players who want to make their mark under a fresh regime – one that ought to offer some of them renewed energy.
Nico Gonzalez, who failed to start a single league game between January and May, insisted that he is one of them.
‘I’m happy here,’ said Gonzalez, who joined for £50million 18 months ago. ‘I don’t want to leave and I think the club wants me to stay. If we win, I’m happy. My dream is to win trophies.
‘If I don’t play any matches and we win the Champions League next year, I will be so happy. The final of the FA Cup I was not picked but we won so it was an amazing day for me. To be honest, last season I couldn’t have expected to have played almost 30 matches in the starting XI. I played really good. I’ve had many opportunities.’
Gonzalez – who didn’t even make the bench for that FA Cup final he referenced – does have his price but it has become clearer in recent days that Tijjani Reijnders is more likely to exit the building before the window closes. Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United are monitoring the Dutchman, valued at £55million.
Be it Rodri or Reijnders or both, City sources have indicated that they are ready to replace any potential outgoings. The pursuit of Ayyoub Bouaddi, a breakout talent at the World Cup with Morocco, is a separate entity and they are pressing ahead with negotiations with Lille regardless of movements in the other direction.
They had accelerated the rebuild in January, spending £85million on Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, with the two signings from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace embedded into the squad then rather than now – which ought to represent something of an advantage moving forward.
Semenyo contributed to two trophy wins – scoring the FA Cup-winning goal over Chelsea – while Guehi was ineligible to feature in the Carabao Cup final, a decision that riled Guardiola.
Nico Gonzalez insists he is happy at City despite failing to start a league game between January and May
City are pressing ahead with negotiations with Lille for Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi (right)
But Tijjani Reijnders could be on the way out amid interest from Nottingham Forest and Newcastle
City believe the strategy of doing those deals six months early, and supplementing it by breaking their transfer record with £116million Elliot Anderson once Maresca assumed the post, will reap its rewards.
‘I don’t think any player has the position guaranteed for all the matches,’ Gonzalez added. ‘We are one of the best teams in the world and obviously there is competition in every position. That is what makes us be in the position that we are, winning so many Premier Leagues and competing for everything.’
Gonzalez is talking about a different squad though. He’s never won a title. Only five of this group were around for the Treble, revealing quite how much rebuilding has gone on in the three seasons since.
City have spent much of the last two years planning for this moment, for life after Guardiola, and now the time has come to determine how meticulous that has been.